


Xiaolin Showdown: Turning The Tides

by angelrin89



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Surrogate Family Feels, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-23 07:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 53,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4868921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelrin89/pseuds/angelrin89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been several months since Raimundo was chosen to be the leader. The monks were unstoppable so far, not even Hannibal Roy Bean has been able to slow down their victories. However, they shouldn't let their guard down, Chase Young is still watching and waiting. The tides of this war can turn against them quite easily, and if they aren't careful they could lose Omi forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chillin With The Villain

 

* * *

It's been several months since their great battle with the alliance of all their evil foes. It was rough, but the monks eventually won. Omi thought long about that fight. With the assistance of Master Fung and eventually Master Monk Guan who aided them, it was no surprise that the villains lost. Even then the young Xiaolin dragons had grown far more powerful and Raimundo had risen to Shoku warrior, their leader.

But what was most interesting, Omi noticed back then, was that Chase Young been holding back. He wasn't sure what to make of that, or of when the Heylin warrior vanished from the middle of the battle. He claimed he had no interest in being a part of an alliance that included Hannibal Roy Bean...and the only reason he put up with it for as long as he did was because he was interested in gauging how powerful Omi and the others have become.

Soon after, Wuya left, following Chase. Jack Spicer surrendered, noticing how the monks and their masters trounced the other foes (which wasn't all too surprising).

Though that wasn't the only thing on Omi's mind. He couldn't help but wonder if Chase Young too remembered the other timeline.

Omi still has not forgotten the possible futures; both horrible outcomes were Omi's fault. Omi could understand why Raimundo was chosen to be leader, even if it had stung; the young boy had accepted it, as his friend earned that title. No—Raimundo  _deserved_  that title. His older friend, while still had a lot of faults (not that he was one to talk), really...he was the best choice out of the four of them for leader.

As bittersweet as it was to admit it, Omi would not deny that Raimundo would make a better leader than himself. However, he was not ashamed to admit how proud he was for his friend. That made Omi smile a little. The disappointment of losing the title of leader and the chance to rise to Shoku warrior, while he wanted it badly...it did hurt. But it was so easy to forget about his disappointment when he thought how proud he was of Raimundo. How proud he was to call him his friend.

Omi then frowned again; leaning against a tree in the woods he trekked through, the boy deep in thought. He took a deep breath, crossed his arms while he tapped his foot in the dirt. He wanted to continue to focus on happier thoughts—after all, so many fortunous things happen for him and his friends, especially recently. However sticking to happier and less serious thoughts was a lot harder than it seemed when he had so much weighing down on his mind.

Omi found it curious that little bit by little bit, his friends forgotten the events of the other timeline. Of Guan being the one who turned evil instead, of how much in worse shape they were in, and...

Omi sighed and continued to walk through the woods. The air was a bit chilly; the moon was full. The sky was a little cloudy that evening, but not too cloudy as he could still see the night sky. There were several stars out that could be seen. It was beautiful, but Omi didn't feel like appreciating nature.

It hurt a little that his friends did not remember much from the other timeline...Chase Young being on the side of good, fighting side by side with them, and the sacrifice he made for them. Most of all, when the timeline stabilized, Omi remembered everything. It was as if the lifetime of memories he once had, but didn't know he had, came rushing into him.

Memories of Chase being there since the day the monks of the temple found him. Memories of Master Fung and Chase being his teachers, and being there for him, his entire life. Chase teaching him and his friends many skills when Master Fung was taken from them, protecting the four of them anytime the evil forces attacked. Chase, who comforted Kimiko when her parents were enslaved by the dark forces. Memories of him saving Raimundo from being tricked into serving Bean and Wuya. Memories of Chase searching high and low, hardly getting any sleep, just to find the ingredients they needed to make a remedy for Clay, who was poisoned (they were so frightened they were going to lose Clay). Thankfully Chase made it in time, and Clay was fine.

Omi remembered Chase comforting the little boy whenever he had nightmares, or how he would read him stories before bed. Omi cried when they realized that retrieving Master Fung back from the Yin Yang World was impossible, it was Chase who gave him hope that they'd find him again and defeat evil. All these happy memories even amongst those dark times.

He always gave them hope that they'd all be okay against the forces of evil. He always kept the monks together, always putting himself at great risk just to protect the four, telling them how he believed they were all special. They were the ones destined to save the world.

But it wasn't that timeline. Here, Chase was his enemy, but...well, even Omi had to admit when it came to Chase Young, he always saw the man a bit differently than the others. To a point, the boy did trust him, and even though he fights in the name of evil—Omi had come to respect him. Omi did always wish that Chase would return to the side of good, but he never imagined what Chase was actually like.

And how much of an impact he actually would have on him. Omi certainly got...attached to the good Chase Young, the  _real_  Chase Young.

But his friends didn't seem to remember any of that, fragments of the other timeline they still remember sure, but not that.

Omi still couldn't help but have a couple of questions dance around in his mind. Why did he still remember it all of a sudden? Did Chase remember any of it too? And that made Omi wonder, could Chase be turned to good again? Omi believed so, but the others clearly didn't have Omi's sense of hope when it came to that field.

Omi sighed again and pulled out the Golden Tiger Claws.

"Fighting for good sometimes can be most complicated." The boy mumbled to himself.

Raimundo would probably be very upset with him if he knew what he was doing...what he has done several times over the past months.

Omi may have...met with Chase Young once a month (in secret without his friends knowing of course). Usually they made small talk and would either spar or meditate. An odd thing for two foes to do, but Omi and Chase always were different.

Now Omi had to admit, there was another reason for doing it, not just because he actually enjoyed their sparring matches or any new moves he'd learn. He wanted to learn more about Chase, as much as he could. Maybe find a sign or a clue of how to reverse the effect of the Lao Mang Long Soup, bring Chase back to the side of good again.

It was December, Omi had already met up with Chase previously that month. However most of his friends had left, they said they'd be back in a week, all visiting their families for a holiday (it was called Chris—something, Omi forgot). Things had become relatively quiet, and save for Jack Spicer occasionally showing up to stir up the usual trouble, they weren't as worried about the forces of evil as of recently.

They had become quite formidable; Hannibal Roy Bean had lost every time to them ever since Raimundo's rise to Shoku warrior. The bean can try as he might, but he could not gain an upper hand on the monks. Wuya had returned to Chase, it seemed any partnership with that evil bean wasn't going to be resuming any time soon, but they hadn't heard a peep out of her much either. Chase was staying out of things, so it seemed Wuya was doing the same. Raimundo was (at first) confident the two were just laying low, probably scheming something big and then they'd strike.

But as time went on, it almost seemed like Chase indeed had no interest in fighting the monks anymore, and with the constant defeats to Hannibal Roy Bean, Raimundo was no longer worried in the slightest about anything the forces of evil cooked up. He had complete faith the four of them could handle it fine.

Omi took a breath, he may as well go anyways like he planned. He also had slightly more selfish reasons, but he needed to go.

"Golden Tiger Claws!"

* * *

 

The food was as delectable as it always was (but Chase Young was a man with refined tastes, after all) and it seemed Wuya was enjoying herself. If her empty plate was any indication—a smirk on her lips as she dabbed around her mouth with a napkin. It was good to see her in a better mood, as she kept nagging at Chase earlier to help her go out and get some Shen Gong Wu the past couple of months, only to be disappointed each time when he told her no. She was clearly getting more and more annoyed with it.

Anytime she would ask, Chase just kept telling her that any of the Wu revealed were of no importance to them. He had his reasons but he didn't feel like divulging much of it to her, at least not yet.

He took another sip of his Lao Mang Long Soup, as his thoughts were brought back to the young Xiaolin warriors. The monks were getting stronger with each passing week, slowly but surely, and that was a problem for Chase. For it meant Omi would some day soon be getting closer to becoming as strong as Chase...or worse... _stronger._

Although he couldn't bring himself to destroy the boy. At least not yet...indeed Wuya and even that insufferable bean would have eliminated the child long ago before he became a serious threat to all things evil. Chase felt it would be a shameful waste of all that unrealized power and skills. The small monk only just begun to scratch the surface of what he's truly capable of.

The power he wielded with that boy at his side and all that potential that only continued to get stronger...to kill him would be a pitiful loss of such a valuable asset. He could not squander such an opportunity, not yet. If there was no possible chance of succeeding in bringing the boy over to his side then yes—he would have no choice but to eliminate him. But for now he saw no reason to give up on the child.

Omi's place should be following in his footsteps where his true potential can be realized. Not following in the footsteps of fools like Guan and Dashi.

Chase's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed one of his tigers approaching. The large cat halted in its tracks and bowed before his master, waiting respectfully.

"Come." Chase commanded the jungle cat, pushing himself out of his chair as the tiger stepped forward.

Wuya blinked as she took a sip of wine as she observed with mild interest. Chase placed his right hand on the jungle cat head, his servant opened his mind so that Chase could see its thoughts.

A small smile appeared on the lips of the Heylin warrior; he noticed Wuya started to get slightly more interested from the corner of his eyes. He turned his attention now to the Heylin witch.

"It would seem we have a visitor." Chase said.

As if on cue the large doors swung open, two of his jungle cats now walking up the steps to where Chase and Wuya were, Omi trailing behind them. Wuya sat up, her previous annoyance etched into her expression again.

"Not this cheese-ball again, didn't he already visit a couple of weeks ago?" Wuya groaned.

"Indeed, this is unexpected." One of his eyebrows raised, a smirk still on his face.

Chase didn't hide his amused curiosity. Nor did he care if Wuya was annoyed with this turn of events. Chase planned on seeing Omi a couple of weeks from now, as per their usual once a month meetings they have been doing in these recent months. Though he supposed it was perfectly fine if Omi came here on his own, ahead of schedule.

"Wuya, leave us." He commanded.

Before she could protest he turned and gave her a hard frown. He found her petulance amusing other nights, however he wouldn't put up with it right now. She let out an exasperated sigh and glared at him. Chase knew he'd be getting an earful of complaints from her later but he honestly didn't care at that moment. She started to stomp out of the room rather childishly, but not before she came running back in and snatched one of the plates off the table.

"Fine. If I'm leaving—then so are these cupcakes." She announced haughtily before turning to head back out again.

The jungle cats eventually left as well, only to wait in the shadows for when he would call them again. The only two people left was himself and the young Xiaolin monk. Omi stood in awkward silence as he watched Chase sit back down at the table.

"Omi, are you going to stand there all night?" Chase asked before taking another sip of his soup.

"Oh—I uh...well you see—" Omi stammered.

Clearly whatever reason the boy had for coming here tonight he hadn't fully thought through about what he wanted to say.

No matter...

"Come Omi, I'm sure you're hungry." He offered instead.

"Oh, well thank you." The boy lightly nodded before pulling up the chair Wuya previously sat in, then climbed in himself.

Chase waited in silence as the boy served himself. Judging by the amount he put on his plate and the growl coming from Omi's stomach that he heard just now...it was safe to say Omi was famished.

"Hungry are we?" Chase asked, a bit amused.

The child blushed and scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, forgive me...I forgot to eat lunch today, as I was talking to each of my friends over this amazing thing on a laptop Kimiko lent me. I look into a camera and my friends can see me on top of hearing me, and they can do the same thing and I can see and hear them! It's all thanks to the webs of spiders world wide!" Omi explained rather excitedly.

"I see...while I can't say I use such technology that people enjoy in these modern times, I'm pretty sure computers have nothing to do with webs from spiders Omi." Chase explained, still slightly amused with the boy.

"Yes—I remember, Kimiko had said something to me similar but—I didn't really understand how it works." Omi shrugged.

Chase took another sip of soup while Omi began to eat some of the vegetables on his plate. He waited a for a minute until after the boy swallowed a bite.

"Why wouldn't you just talk to your friends in person?" Chase asked.

Chase knew Omi's friends weren't there, but that really wasn't Omi's concern.

"Ah...well, you see, there is this holiday they all celebrate around this time of year with their families, so they all returned home." Omi explained.

Omi then had a more melancholic look on his face.

" _Interesting..._ " The Heylin warrior thought to himself, but then set the spoon down and asked, "Is there a problem Omi?"

The boy looked up and frowned back down at his plate.

"Oh, no. They are enjoying themselves and they'll be back for New Years, and Clay and Raimundo and Kimiko said they will all introduce me to many fun things that each of their families do on New Years. And Dojo was throwing a party for all the monks in the temple, saying he's going to party like it's 1899." Omi laughed.

"And...?" Chase urged the boy to continue.

"Well, tomorrow Dojo said that we can have a big holiday breakfast and exchange presents at the temple, like Raimundo and the others no doubt will be doing when they are with their families...those three even left some presents for Master Fung, Dojo, and me—of course!" Omi smiled.

Omi was still a bit disappointed, Chase could tell. He had a lot on his mind, but while everyone was off somewhere he clearly wanted to be with someone. Was it just to talk to someone about whatever plagued his mind or take his mind off things? No, knowing Omi it was probably a little bit of both. Omi wasn't that good at lying or covering up how he feels. True, he had learned how to master deceit once before...but those lessons seemed to be lost on him now. He was even worse at it around the immortal warrior; Chase could read Omi practically like an open book.

"I see, but tonight you feel a bit left out. Most people would find it odd they would seek company with their nemesis." Chase said as he took a sip of tea.

It was indeed rather...unique.

When it came to anyone else that was a foe that stood in his way of conquest...the Prince of Darkness certainly couldn't say he would be sitting across them and dining civilly in each other's company. Yes they were certainly odd enemies. Nothing Omi did concerning Chase was the same as his fellow monks, and likewise nothing Chase did concerning with Omi was remotely similar to how he treated and saw any of his other foes.

It was true that the child was misguided in fighting for such a pathetic side that was  _"good";_  but Chase had to admit when compared to every person he came across that he considered his enemy, the mighty warrior definitely couldn't say he would ever trust them. Even those he considered his allies like Wuya for instance: he honestly—if given the choice—would put more faith in Omi than the others, save for his jungle cats.

Wuya was useful and he actually did come to enjoy her company. She was good at what she does and was powerful. She made a very worthy partner in evil. Indeed she makes a better ally than foe, and he'd much prefer to keep her that way. But when it came down to it, if his very existence depended on it, he couldn't say he'd trust her to preserve it.

That's why keeping his odd relationship with his young foe, Omi, was vitally important. Not just for his plans; not just for the fact that he wanted the boy at his side. But also because Chase had to admit—as strange as it was, Omi was the person Chase felt he'd go to if he depended on it. Omi was not a person who'd stab you in the back. The monk was too loyal and trusting. And much like Chase the boy always kept his word. While it was one of Omi's greatest weaknesses the Prince of Darkness had and will still continue to exploit, it was at the same time something he knew he could depend on if that situation ever came. He doubted he'd ever be so desperate but one can never be too careful.

"I am not bored and lonely and dwelling on unhappy thoughts if that's what you are thinking!" Omi exclaimed in defiance.

"Omi sit down, I wasn't thinking about that...until now." He raised an eyebrow.

Chase bit back a smirk as he watched Omi flush and sit down, caught and admitting something he clearly was embarrassed about.

Omi had a look like there was a lot on his mind, a lot he wanted to say. But it seemed he refused to say any of it now; whatever nerve the boy previously had, he lost it. So he sat in silence finishing the meal on his plate.

Chase went back to his thoughts. He would need time for the plan he was about to set in motion, but he could appreciate the fact that Omi was away from the influence from his friends even if for a short time. He could only imagine how they all would feel about Omi continuing to see their enemy once a month to train and meditate. He also couldn't help but grin at that Omi, rather than calling up any of his friends again or seeking out Dojo or Fung, out of all the people, he came to Chase...for something as simple at the fact that he was feeling a bit lonely and left out. Oh yes, Omi's fellow dragons would probably be particularly miffed.

They made it no secret that they hated Chase and didn't trust him. They were very protective of Omi, even more so after Omi was freed from Chase's influence. Omi, not surprisingly, didn't hold a grudge against him for it. (He was sometimes far too trusting for his own good.)

"Uhhh..." Omi spoke up.

Chase raised his head, glancing at the young monk across the table.

"I was wondering if I could get something to drink—maybe, some tea?" The boy gave a sheepish smile.

A silent laugh barely escaped from his lips as Chase snapped his fingers. One of his jungle cats came over, a tray in its mouth, a little cup filled with hot tea brought over. Omi gingerly picked up the cup from the tray, and lightly bowed his head to the cat.

"Thank you." Omi said before taking a sip of tea.

Things got silent again as Omi piled a little bit of more food onto his plate, but that was fine. Chase needed to make a mental list of the things he needed to do for his plan to be set in motion.

Much to his irritation there was one Shen Gung Wu he knew he needed, one that had yet to reveal itself. He hated that once again, he had to rely one of Dashi's little magical toys in order to get Omi over to his side. Although he supposed it was a necessary evil. Omi was not like the other fallen heroes and warriors who now are under his command. The child had proven he would not be swayed easily. Even if he was naive and too trusting, the boy had a strong sense of belief in fighting for the  _"good"_  side—as miserable waste of his talent as it was.

He'd been keeping an eye on the monks so he knew they'd be gone for the week, but they'd return soon, and unless the Wu revealed itself before they got back (Chase wasn't making any plans that it would but he still had to consider every option as it would happen), he knew he'd have to keep them occupied so they don't interfere.

The other trouble was that meddlesome bean...no way was Chase going to let that irritation get in his way either, but he had a plan on how to keep Roy Bean off his trail. And he also had to make certain he got the Wu before either the monks or anyone else, but he was confident he could get his obstacles from interfering. Soon it would all come together and it would be practically impossible for the monks to stop him once he set it into motion.

Chase was always destined for greatness—but Omi too was destined for bigger things. Chase could feel it.

Indeed, Raimundo was the one chosen to be the leader, but being a chosen leader doesn't mean you are the chosen  _one_. There is a difference. Sure, several tales and legends and folklore would have you believe that the destined hero, the leader of any team or army in these grand tales, was the chosen one. But that line of thinking was ridiculous, he wasn't sure why the people of this realm adopted this belief and ingrained into their society when it came to their stories of legends and fantasy they were often drawn too.

No, Omi may not be the chosen leader. He may not be the one more suited for that as his older friend was but the boy was destined for something different. And he didn't need a title as a leader of the Xiaolin dragons or even the rank of Shoku warrior to reach what fate has planned for him.

An ancient prophesy he remembered being told time and time again back when he trained to be a Xiaolin warrior himself all those many years ago, Omi fit that description far better than any warrior he'd come across in the past fifteen hundred years.

"It's getting rather late, don't you think? You should be best heading home young warrior. After all, you wouldn't want your teacher or dragon finding you're missing and start to worry, would you?" Chase spoke up.

"Yes, I suppose you are right. Thank you for the meal," The boy hopped out of the chair and bowed, then added with a wave, "I will be seeing you after a period of time."

"I believe that's  _'see you later,'_  Omi." Chase smirked.

"That too!" Omi grinned as he made his way down the stairs.

He watched the boy exit and disappeared from sight—who would soon return to his safe, cozy temple. The boy seemed less melancholic when he left compared to earlier, but something clearly was still bothering the little one. Whatever Omi wanted to ask Chase figured that could wait for next time, as there would be a next time.

Chase smirked as Wuya came into sight. He may as well fill her in at least a little bit of what he was planning. He did need her help after all, but he still won't give her all the details. As entertaining and useful as she is, she's still very untrustworthy. But no matter, he knew how to keep her in check.

Omi belonged to the dark forces, belonged by Chase's side. No matter how much he denied it, that was where he was fated to be. And Chase was determined to bring his young naïve protégé to where he rightfully belonged.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit Note: I originally posted this on ff.net but I decided I’ll start uploading it here too.  
> One of my favorite things is the interactions and the very complicated frienemy relationship between Omi and Chase. They also sort of became my favorite characters after a rewatch (Originally, my favorites were Clay and Kimiko, I still love them...it's just...agh I have so many feelings about Omi and Chase like you have no idea).  
> Time After Time only made those feelings worse, because it was so cute how Papa Chase was with the monks, I wish he became a good guy in the end...alas.  
> Also, before anyone asks, yes this is a sequel obviously to Showdown, and yes, I know all about Xiaolin Chronicles, and no, I did not like it. I rather found myself angry with it, but I am not here to express my disappointment, because this has nothing to do with Chronicles. So that's probably the last you'll ever hear me go into that.  
> Also some are probably going to wonder if I will be ship teasing anything then the answer is yes, there will be some RaiKim and Chuya ship teasing here and there.  
> Well I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter, let me know what you think! :D


	2. Goodbye Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is up to his usual no good, Omi is plagued with terrible nightmares, and Chase Young and Wuya are plotting as usual.

* * *

Jack Spicer tiptoed up the stairs from the basement of his lab, a trail of Jack-bots hovering behind him as they quietly followed. Slowly and steadily, he had to be careful. It was late, and his parents were both home for once. But they'd be asleep and he most certainly did  _not_  want to wake either of them...especially his mother.

You blow up  _one_  of your mom's nice antiques by accident and suddenly you are forbidden from leaving the house for like, a month!

No way, he heard a rumor going around that there was buried treasure in an old dingy cave not too far from where he lived. About eight or nine miles, give or take. Nobody ever tried to explore further in it beyond the entrance because it was haunted or something.

" _What wimps, I'm gonna swoop in and grab that treasure!_ " Jack thought to himself as he gave a quiet, evil chuckle.

He halted immediately when his shoe made a creaking noise against the hardwood floor at the top of the step. Jack looked to his left and right as he could feel sweat start to form on the back of his neck. Thankfully he didn't hear a sound.

Well...that was until he heard a small  _"clang"_ from behind him. He twisted around and glared down at his Jack-bots. Number eight went and bumped into number seven. All his Jack-bots froze and just hovered there in silence, numbers one and two glanced at each other before glancing back at him. The dumb machines almost seemed confused.

"Will you guys be  _quiet!?_ What part of  _silently sneaking out_ does not compute with your programming? Do you  _want_ my mom to take you all away from me and sell you guys for parts to buy more of her dumb antique junk?!" Jack whispered with a hiss.

The trail of robots just swiveled their heads from left to right in unison; as if shaking their heads to answer _"no"._

He placed his hands on his hips as his lower lip curled outward while a scowl was still on his face. He let out a small snort and lightly shook his head.

"Good. You boys understand. Now let's go, we're almost to the back door. Stay in single file, and follow me out  _quietly!_ Whoever is the last in line, you better close the door behind you as silent as a mouse—or else I'm going to have to lend you to my mom to be her juicer!" Jack whispered his threat.

He noticed the two Jack-bots in the back of the line freeze up and rapidly swiveled their heads from left to right; like akin to someone shaking their head faster when nervous. The robots all saluted immediately and Jack let out a sigh, but then an evil grin was back on his face as he turned around. The redhead tiptoed across the floor ever so gingerly and his grin widened. Fortunately for him no one heard them at all. And the Jack-bots followed single file after him as silently as he hoped. He was going to get out of there home free and be rolling in riches soon.

And the best part was not _just_  the treasure he'd find...but those loser monks definitely had no knowledge of this treasure. Neither did Hannibal Roy Bean, Chase Young, or Wuya. Even Katnappe and Tubbimura haven't heard about this local rumor, thankfully. He had a little small explorer bot do a quick sweep down that cavern last week; while the dingy cave was old and had many areas that looked caved in, there showed no sign of any person going down there and digging up anything in a  _really long_  while. Absolutely none of them had a clue and no one was going to get in the way of his triumph.

Luck was on  _his side_  tonight!

* * *

It was a dream; it had to have been. Because if it weren't, then how would that explain Omi now looking younger than he currently was? He was wearing orange robes, that told Omi he knew this was a dream because he always worn his red Xiaolin robes. How could it be so sunny and Omi playing outside, when he just recently went to bed? And...there was the fact that he was hiding...planning to sneak up on Chase Young.

Not the enemy Omi had fought, no... _this_  was the true Chase. The one who fights for the Xiaolin side and all that is good. This Chase is one of his teachers, alongside Master Fung.

Yes, this clearly had to be a dream.

"Omi? Omi? Now where did that boy go?" He heard Chase's footsteps get closer, then Chase's tone turned more playful, "Omi, you may as well show yourself now, you can't sneak up on me."

The little boy giggled and readied himself into position. Omi then blinked in confusion when the footsteps ceased and it became quiet.  _Really_ quiet; Omi pulled apart some of the leaves to get a better view as he popped his head through the bushes.

He saw no one, where did Chase go? The boy frowned and continued to scan around through the bush for the ageless monk, but he didn't see a sign of him in the forest. Omi's thoughts were distracted when he felt two hands snatch him from behind and pull him out of the bush. The young child gasped for a second, as it startled him, but then frowned when he saw none other than Chase (who was looking pretty smug).

"Try as you might little student, but you'll never be able to sneak up on your teacher." Chase teased.

Omi frowned harder.

"Ha! You will not be as certain when I win, your luck shall run out, and then the one who triumphs shall be me!"

Chase just continued to laugh lightly, not concerned at all with Omi's boast. The small child grumbled and crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Laugh now, but someday I shall be the victor...and put me down!" Omi huffed.

"Alright, alright—no need to get so testy." Chase chuckled.

He set the boy down, and then took off in a different direction.

"Let's see if you've gotten any faster, Omi!" Chase laughed as he jumped up into a tree and started hopping off the branches.

Omi was startled for a second, but frowned as he immediately chased after the man, jumping into a tree and following after him. Omi knew his game, but he was not going to let him get away this time! Omi was going to best Chase once in one of their games, he can't win  _every_ time!

A voice in the back of his head told him it was still just a dream, but Omi ignored it. He was having fun, he didn't care if this wasn't reality. (Though he knew he wanted this to be reality.)

Omi continued jumping from branch after branch, tree after tree, as he pursued Chase in their game. But Omi didn't notice that the branch he was aiming to land on suddenly vanished and he just realized how tall these trees were as he started to fall.

"Omi!" Chase shouted.

Chase almost appeared out of nowhere as he grabbed Omi with one arm, and grabbed a branch of a tree with another. The branch however broke, and Chase quickly maneuvered himself as he kicked both of his legs against the tree; propelling them forward as the young man managed to land them both on the ground safely.

Chase panted for a few seconds before he set the boy on the ground, but not before checking for any injuries on the child. Omi batted Chase's hands away, not used to being smothered (well from people other than Kimiko), especially not from Chase—of all people.

"I am alright and much healthy Master Monk Chase, you do not need to worry!" The boy exclaimed up at him.

Chase sighed and smiled, "Very well, but you gave me quite the scare little one. What happened?"

"I am most confused! I followed after you and one moment the branch was there, but then another moment it just vanished! Next thing I know I am ready to have a social activity with gravity!" Omi exasperated.

Chase paused for a second but then laughed as he pat the child on the head.

"Oh, you mean you were ready to have a  _'date with gravity.'_ " Chase corrected him.

"That too." Omi nodded.

Chase was then staring off in the distance, he looked...troubled.

"Master Monk Chase—is there something wrong?" The little boy asked.

Chase seemed to glare into the distance for another couple of brief seconds but then let out a sigh and smiled down at the child.

"Don't worry about it Omi...I just thought I heard something is all. Come, why don't we head back to the temple. I'm sure Master Fung and Dojo are waiting for us to return." Chase offered.

Omi nodded and followed after Chase, the walk was rather quiet but the air felt tense. Omi knew this was a dream; the back of his mind kept reminding him. But that did not stop him from feeling uneasy. Omi glanced back up at Chase, his expression was very tense.

That was when Omi thought he heard something rush by the bushes next to them. The boy jumped back a bit, Chase grabbed Omi by the shoulder lightly and pulled him a bit closer as he readied a fighting stance.

"Stay near, Omi." He instructed.

The boy did as he was told and kept close to his teacher, not wanting to stray, and while he didn't want to admit it...he was starting to get a bit nervous.

Then Omi heard it all around them. That laugh...

Omi recognized that laugh. It was Chase's laugh, but it sounded more distorted and...evil.

The trees in the forest slowly started to disappear, everything started to be replaced with rocks and fire. It appeared they were on a mountain and any plant life on it was set ablaze. The once fresh green-forest air now smelt of smoke and ash. Omi looked behind them and in the distance saw what he knew to be the evil version of Chase Young's lair. He looked back up, and standing next to him was still the true version of Chase Young. The noble, good man who was one of their teachers and masters in the other timeline; who was now protectively standing in front of Omi.

It was a dream...Omi's mind repeated that to him over and over again. But fear still crept into his heart. He did not wish to see where this dream was heading, but at the same time he didn't want to wake up. Waking up meant going back to reality, and he just wanted to continue playing and training in the forest with his teacher.

Omi felt it though, a dark presence. One that felt very familiar to him...it was very close.

"You can stop hiding, I know you're there, show yourself!" Chase commanded to whatever was lurking around them.

"If you surrender, I can promise you will not have to suffer a most humiliating defeat!" Omi called out from behind Chase as he raised his fists.

Chase quietly laughed as he smiled down at Omi, but his expression turned tense again when he glared into the shadows in front of them. A large figure started to emerge from the shadows. A figure that Omi was all too familiar with. The large green scaly creature with long sharp teeth and claws; it grinned maliciously at the two of them.

It was...the dragon form... _no,_  the true face of the evil Chase Young. He…it…was just the creation of the darkness that took over Chase's heart. The darkness that morphed him into the Heylin warrior and creature that Omi and his friends had battled. However, this creature was not the real Chase, not in Omi's eyes. The real Chase was standing in front of him and protecting him.

"Omi, you need to get out of here. Get somewhere safe." Chase whispered.

Omi was about to speak out; to protest, but he was cut off from the sound of a dark laughter coming from the evil dragon form, from the  _other_  Chase.

"Come now, no one should leave yet...the two of you should stay, I could always use the company." The Dragon-Chase laughed coldly.

The Dragon form of the evil Chase then...he started to morph into this black mist of some sort. Omi stood there very confused; he felt the good Chase, however, suddenly push him away, as Omi noticed these black ghost-like hands shoot out of the dark mist. Both Omi and Chase moved to jump away from it.

But Omi wasn't as fast as Chase. He felt the cold, black hand grab him by the ankle. The young monk tried grabbing onto something but his fingers just scratched across the dirt; ash and dirt dug under his fingernails as he did so. The hand was pulling Omi towards that darkness.

Omi felt his voice box frozen, he couldn't scream, he just tried to grab a hold onto something as he was being dragged closer towards it. Omi then heard the dark voice cackle from within the black, cloudy mist.

"Your friends cannot interfere this time Omi—you will  _not_  escape little monk, or did you forget that your destiny belongs to me?" The cold voice mocked the child as it continued to drag him closer and closer.

"Omi!"

Chase jumped in and kicked the black ghost-like arm, releasing Omi in the process. He grabbed the boy by the arm and threw him backward. The child felt his face collide into the ground; his face felt a little bit scratched up, but the back of Omi's mind reminded him once more that it was just a dream.

The boy shook his head and spat the dirt out of his mouth as he pushed himself back to his feet. When he turned around, that was when he felt his breath halt for a second. Those two black arms coiled around Chase and grabbed hold of him. Chase couldn't escape...he was going to get dragged into that darkness!

 _"No...no..."_ Omi felt a chill of dread crawl up his back, as it squeezed his heart tightly.

Omi ran as fast as his tiny feet could manage, he grabbed Chase by the right arm and locked his feet around a large rock sticking out of the ground. Chase looked surprised for a moment, before a very melancholic frown curled onto his face as he noticed just what happened.

Why was he looking at him like that?

"Omi!" The boy now heard three voices call out his name in unison.

Omi found himself briefly distracted as he looked down the mountain; he noticed Kimiko, Raimundo, and Clay (all in their Xiaolin attire) dashing up the mountain towards him. It was then Omi realized he was now back to his normal size and age, and in his Xiaolin robes that he normally wears. He didn't care about this current shift in the dream, not really. He gave Chase a smile as he gripped his arm tightly.

"Do not worry, everything will be most fortunate for us! See, my friends are here! We shall make out of this okay—so just hang on!" Omi's tone betrayed his smile.

There was this mind-numbing silence, it made Omi feel like there was a dry wind in his lungs…he wanted to ignore the growing dread that was developing inside him.

Omi felt a rope swing around him before it snug. Omi didn't turn to look at his friends now pulling together at Clay's lasso that was tied around the boy. The silence was so tense Omi could practically feel the thickness; why did Chase have that expression still?

"Omi...you need to let go." Chase finally spoke.

"W-What?"

"Omi...this isn't just about this dream. You must cut all ties, you cannot continue to try perusing any alliance or trust with myself further. My dark side will not stop. If you continue...you might find yourself trapped in the darkness with me, and this time...there might not be anyone to help bring you back like last time. Next time, you and your friends might not be able to restore the world back to the way it was. The risk is too great. My dark self won't stop until it's either dragged you down with me, or it's killed you if it fails."

"But—"

"No but's Omi. You have to let go, you have to forget about me, you have to forget about that other timeline. For not just your sake, but for the sake of your friends and for the world. It is far too dangerous if you continue. You can't keep walking down a path in between the line. You will lose everything if you do. You have to let go, you have to forget, and you and your friends have to destroy me. It is the only way to save you and everyone else." Chase answered in a surprisingly calm manner.

That bothered him so much. How could he say such things and be so calm? There was a sadness in his eyes...but his tone, it was so calm.

It was as if Omi's friends didn't notice Chase, or even hear what they were saying, but that wasn't Omi's main concern. It was everything coming out of the man's mouth.

"I cannot do that..." Omi said weakly.

"You have to Omi. You have to give up on me," Chase sighed, "Omi, I drank the Lao Mang Long Soup, I have to pay for those consequences. No one else should have to pay for my mistakes."

"But there is still good in you!" Omi shouted.

"Even if you are correct little one, it is small, a dying star in an empty dark universe...sometimes Omi, you can't save everyone." Chase gave a small smile, but it was a fake one.

The small one couldn't take it. He couldn't take hearing this kind of talk. He couldn't take this dream. Now he started to wish he would wake up. As much as the reality of Chase being an enemy was...not wanted...watching this was even worse.

It was like the pain of watching Chase to  _willingly_ sacrifice himself to the evil of the Lao Mang Long Soup for their sake…only much, much worse. This was slower, it was just so cruel. But what was even worse; Omi at least had the hope he could still find a way to free Chase, even with what happened in the other timeline. After all, if the past can be changed then so can the future.

But this…his dream was flat out telling him that he should just give up. He didn't want to hear that, there had to be hope! There always had to be hope!

"Stop saying such things! Just stop! I know you were tricked, but I was too! And my friends did not give up on me, they saved me! So why should I not do the same?! I cannot give up, I cannot let go! I will help you!" Omi felt his voice crack.

He felt Chase's grip go limp in his arms, as the arm slowly started to slide out of the child's grip.

"No, please! Please let me help you! Please do not let go! I know I can help you! I know I can! I promise you I will never give up! I will help you, but please..." Omi felt his eyes get misty, "Just— _please_  do not let go!"

"Sorry, Omi...I'm afraid that isn't something I can give you my word on. I  _can't_  be saved. You need to forget about me, forget about that timeline, and focus on your duties as a Xiaolin warrior. You must destroy all evil that threatens the world—that includes myself."

Omi felt his heart frozen, like icicles were prickling inside him, as Chase slipped from his grasp entirely...swallowed into the darkness. He almost felt every cell in his body freeze to an immediate halt. He was so frozen that he didn't even notice when his body was pulled completely back towards his fellow Xiaolin warriors and friends.

All that attention was focused on Chase being devoured by darkness…he failed his friend.

"No!"

Omi's eyes forced open as his body shot forward, his hand extended into the chilly air. The boy panted, as he felt sweat sticking to his neck and forehead. His eyes still felt misty, but he did not let a tear escape (although his heart was still racing).

"What a horrible dream." The boy mumbled to himself in the room that was empty of three other people he wished so badly was there.

His friends might not be able to understand how he felt on that matter...but he really wished they were there. Just to feel one of Raimundo's noogies, or of Clay giving him a pat on the back, or one of Kimiko's tender hugs. Omi let out a heavy sigh; the boy pulled himself out from under his blanket and he folded it neatly as he sat on top of it. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes, choosing to meditate.

The boy grimaced; he wanted to meditate to bring himself to a calm state, but so many thoughts were still swirling in his head.

 _"How could he ask me such a thing? I cannot ever forget that timeline! I cannot bring myself to forget you! To do such a thing is like asking me to allow a friend to die! I will never do such a thing!"_ Omi shouted in his thoughts.

The young monk slowly opened his eyes and had a sorrowful expression on his face.

 _"That's right...you were our ally, you were our teacher...asking me to abandon you, to forget about you...to even destroy you? That would be no more different than asking me to do the same thing to Master Fung...or Raimundo, or Kimiko, or Clay, or Jermaine, or Dojo! I could never do that!"_  Omi sighed again and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself back to meditation.

* * *

Chase had just informed Wuya a few little pieces about his plan. He still wouldn't give her all the details, not just yet anyway. Not until he was certain that she was going to behave and do her part.

He knew she wasn't going to betray him and form an alliance with the likes of that pathetic bean...but that didn't mean she might not still try to betray him or try to do anything else underhanded.

He enjoyed her and liked having her as a partner. She was very useful, but he still couldn't fully trust her.

"So when are we going to jump that pathetic little bean?" Wuya asked gleefully.

"Soon, I'm going to have to have an eye kept on him. He's thankfully been more preoccupied with the monks and Guan. When he least suspects it...that is when we'll strike." Chase scratched the ear of the tiger sitting next to him.

He would need to get him out of his way, Chase knew with Wuya's help, he'd be able to rid himself of that nuisance. But he still needed to be very careful, everything had to be perfect.

"Now Chase, while I know you are keeping things from me..." Chase frowned at her as she spoke, she just waved her hand, "Relax, I won't push you, I know I've been quite the naughty lady in the past. I need to earn your trust after all, you're just being your careful self as always. But what I was going to ask...now we know that I will help you with that fool...but...let's just say, I was wondering if I get any little reward if I'm on my best behavior?"

Wuya batted her eyelashes at him as she hung off his shoulder. Chase rolled his eyes but didn't really care, she always did things like this.

"As a matter of fact..."

Chase snapped his fingers and the tiger next to him transformed into a Japanese woman with short black hair, her mouth was covered with a black cloth, and the rest of her attire matched her dark hair.

"She has been keeping an  _eye_  on our Xiaolin friends for us. And it is thanks to her that I know the combination to their Shen Gong Wu vault, and each combination for every time that they change it." He explained.

Wuya's eyes lit up like stars.

"You've had this ninja-girl here spy on them, for me?" Wuya batted her eyelashes again.

"Correct Wuya, and I also can have her slip in and steal a couple for you anytime you do as you're told and continue to behave like a proper second-in-command." Chase said.

"Oh Chase, you sure know how to spoil a girl!" Wuya giggled darkly as she grabbed the Heylin warrior into a tight hug.

Chase grumbled...four seconds have now passed and the woman was still clinging onto him.

"Three second rule." He pushed Wuya off, who only seemed to giggle at his discomfort.

"Leave us, and continue your monitoring on the Xiaolin Temple. Report back to me in two hours, Fusa." Chase instructed his servant.

"Yes, of course master." She bowed before disappearing into the shadows.

Chase started to walk down the steps and motioned for Wuya to follow. The redheaded witch was right behind him, being patient for once, as she waited for him to speak.

Chase stopped, and he felt Wuya stop behind him. A smirk found it's way on the Heylin warlord's face. He turned around to look directly into Wuya's green eyes. She's been on her best behavior so far for the past couple of months, so he may as well tell her now what else he'd plan to reward her with. If anything it would motivate the woman far from any treacherous thoughts.

"I forgot to mention something, Wuya. Once I have what I obtained...I promise you this," He gauged her anxious expression, before he spoke again, "You can literally have all the Shen Gong Wu you want...all of it. And once I rule the world, once Omi is brought under my thumb again, I'll let you rule the world with me...I'll restore you to your full powers."

"A-Are you serious?" Wuya pupils practically vanished as her jaw dropped.

"Well, we are partners, are we not? We did say we'd stay together for the sake of evil. Besides, the world is a big place, I'll need someone around to help me maintain absolute order. No one would dare challenge us or topple us if you and I are both at full power. Besides, I have no interest in the Shen Gong Wu...you can keep them all as a token of my gratitude. But only if you prove yourself to remain absolutely loyal to me."

Granted Chase knew he'd have to have this conversation with her again, after all, if his plan succeeds, everything as they know it would be changed. But for the time being...until he gets what he needs, until he changes the world as he sees fit, he'll know this will ensure Wuya will remain loyal.

He knew he could trust that Wuya would never betray him with a promise like that, and Wuya knew just as well as anyone else who crossed paths with him, Chase Young always kept his word.

"Chase! I—well, I don't know what to say but...if you can promise me all of that, then even someone like me can promise you that I'll do everything in my power to make sure you succeed." Wuya grinned impishly.

Chase smirked back, he already knew he would keep her in check, but just seeing it play out as he predicted was always satisfying. Chase's brief victory was cut short as the man blinked; puzzled, when he saw Wuya grab her hair, let out a growl, as she collapsed to her knees.

"Are you sensing a big Shen Gong Wu?" He asked as he helped her back up to her feet.

Usually, when a really powerful Shen Gong Wu was revealed, both Wuya and Dojo would get the biggest reactions.

"No...this is a different...ugh, how, how could that seal break? Who would be so foolish as to—that fool!" Wuya hissed.

"Forgive me, but I'm afraid you'll have to be more clear." Chase raised a brow at her.

"There was a seal! It was close to that little idiot's mansion, but if I ever told him to stay away from it he'll just be poking his stupid nose around and release her anyway!" Wuya bit the nail of her thumb as she glared at the wall.

Chase felt himself rub his head, it was as if a headache appeared on instinct the moment someone even starts to hint at a certain annoying failure to evil. She didn't have to say his name, he knew exactly who she was referring to.

 _"So...that little embarrassment to evil poked his nose into things he shouldn't...how typical."_  Chase mentally groaned.

"Tell me about this seal—who is this 'her' you are referring to?" He asked Wuya instead.

Wuya groaned and rubbed her head as if she was getting a headache, "My daughter."

There was a brief pause, as Chase let out a quick breath of air through his nostrils.

"I didn't realize you were a mother." Chase said indifferently.

This news was indeed...a bit of a surprise. But Chase honestly couldn't bring himself to be shocked.

Intrigued, yes—but shocked? Hardly...

"Well, I'm not a mother in the traditional sense, as you know, we immortal types can't have children the old-fashion way. I created her...she's basically a modified version of one of my rock creatures. She's not as powerful as them, and I created her to look more like me and less like a blundering ugly stone monster. I suppose I was a bit jealous, Dashi was raising little students and I just wanted someone of my own to teach and mold." Wuya sighed.

"Hmmm...yes I think I remember her actually, I didn't realize she was your daughter though. Though I only saw her once, I believe it was during the time I first went to train under Dashi." Chase was now picturing an image of a teenage girl who looked strikingly similar to Wuya, only with shorter hair and brown eyes instead of green.

"Yes, yes...now that idiot let her out!" Wuya rubbed her eyebrows in frustration.

"Does your daughter have some power that you particularly feel is not in your benefit? Is she a danger? Why did you seal her away?" Chase inquired.

"No actually...when I created her, she was much weaker than my rock creatures in terms of strength, and she could  _have_ the potential to learn some of my spells if she would actually let me train her in the arts of Heylin magic, but noooo!" Wuya groaned.

Chase didn't speak, as he knew she'd continue, so he watched her pace back and forth before she spoke again.

"It was a difficult spell really, to give her the power I gave her. As it's a spell that no one can grant upon themselves...good or evil." Wuya explained.

Chase raised both his brows this time, as he understood a bit.

She was referring to the Oracle Spell. The power to see the unseen, the power to see the past and future, the power to see multiple futures, the power to talk to and see the memories of the undead...the power to even see memories and visions of other lifetimes and alternate realms.

In short, she created her daughter to be a seer. It was indeed a difficult spell; not only do you have to be a powerful sorcerer or witch to accomplish it, but you also had to sacrifice the chi of at least five mystical creatures and the soul of a dragon in order to pull it off. From the sounds of it, Wuya limited her daughter so that way she couldn't be a threat physically or mystically, but would still be an asset for her spiritually by seeing the unseen and receiving visions from the future.

But if she wasn't a danger or a threat...then why seal her away? Was it because Wuya didn't want anyone else to use her daughter's powers against her?

"Wuya, answer my final question, why did you seal her away?" While he was actually interested, his tone couldn't sound more aloof.

Wuya sighed and looked back into his eyes, "Because, it is her punishment."

"Punishment?" He blinked.

"She's grounded for two thousand years." She frowned.

"I see...and why would her  _darling_  mother have to ground her?" Chase asked dryly.

"Oh Chase...what is a mother to do? You try so hard, you try to raise them to be a little evil spawn, and instead they have to turn out like...like that." Wuya slapped her forehead but then clarified, "I suppose you could say...there was a... _mistake_ , in her creation."

"A mistake?" He crossed his arms as he asked.

"I'm not sure, I'm ninety nine percent certain I followed the spell exactly, but she...she didn't exactly turn out as every diabolical witch with world dominating aspirations would hope. She...she's not evil." Wuya spat out that last part, almost rather heartbroken.

"She's...not evil?" Chase wasn't sure what to make of this.

The spell was a Heylin spell, the formula was one that those of Heylin magic would follow. And the magic Wuya would have used to create her daughter would have been a more advanced version of the spell she casts to create her rock creatures. How could her daughter  _not_ turn evil?

"I don't know where a mother went wrong! All she ever talked about was  _'Dashi this'_  and  _'Dashi that'_  and  _'I'm going to help people just like Grand Master Dashi.'_  That man poisoned her with his good and justice and—" She grabbed Chase by the shoulders and he found himself pulled into another unwanted hug, "It just sickens me Chase! That man poisoned her with all his stupid and idiotic morals!"

Chase wasn't exactly one for comforting, so he wasn't sure what possessed Wuya all of a sudden to think he could give it to her. But still, he did pull her off more gently than last time, if only because he pitied her situation.

But the gears in his mind couldn't help but turn. If this girl did have seer powers, not-with-standing where the girl's heart feels her allegiance should be to (at least according to Wuya), then it could be very beneficial for Chase. If she can really see into the future, then Chase could accelerate his plans. He wouldn't have to wait for the Wu that he needed to reveal itself for him to set his plans into motion.

A dark grin found it's way onto his face once again.

"I'd really like to meet this daughter of yours, Wuya. Besides...it would be rude to leave her stranded in this more modern world. She probably would be very lost, and I'm sure you miss her."

Wuya blinked, a bit confused by Chase's tone for a brief second. But something clicked, and her smirk matched Chase's, she knew just as well what that grin meant when Chase wore it. Wuya probably guessed (correctly) that Chase was cooking up another scheme, and she did always enjoy watching Chase work.

"Why yes, I think you're right Chase...besides, it's only fair for my daughter to meet the new man in my life." Wuya created a puff of smoke around them, as they vanished.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now...enough of that, omg you guys have no idea how hard it was to write the Omi part of this chapter, I LITERALLY STARTED TO TEAR UP!
> 
> I hope I didn't kill anyone with feels (I almost did die from feels).
> 
> And yes, I sort of created a new character that is one of Chase's servants, but female ninjas are cool, and I was kind of watching Code Geass recently and I thought how cool would it be if there was a Sayako character that serves evil. I really am liking what I have for this Fusa character and I hope you guys will like her too. I think she's going to be pretty cool. Also yes, another new character in being Wuya's daughter. Wuya's daughter, she's going to be a REALLY FUN side character! I love side characters and I just...I hope you guys will love her too, because she's just going to be just a lot of fun.
> 
> And while these two are OCs, no they are not the focus of the story, please don't worry about Mary Sues, they will just be side characters, but I plan on having them feel like actual Xiaolin Showdown characters, and also I feel while I enjoy Xiaolin Showdown, one thing it lacked was more female characters.
> 
> The only prominent ongoing female characters that appear in more than one episode are literally 3 characters. (Kimiko, Wuya and Katnappe). I felt a couple of more interesting characters who were female that would fit into the XS universe is in order, not a lot, just at least a few more side characters, just to balance things a little bit more.
> 
> Lastly thank you all for reading and showing your support, and please remember to leave a review!


	3. Friends And Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dojo and Omi have a chat but then hear someone breaking into the temple. Jack finds himself in a situation where he's trapped with a new "friend"...metaphorically and literally. Raimundo reads bed time stories to his siblings. However things aren't all smiles in the Pedrosa household, as Raimundo gets a call from Kimiko as she drops some rather concerning news.

* * *

Dojo knew he heard a noise, he heard someone wandering in the halls. He got up to go check it out. When he slithered his way into the kitchen to investigate he found Omi snacking on an apple.

"Omi ball...what are you doing up at this hour?" The dragon asked.

"Oh, I could not sleep." The boy answered before taking a bite.

Dojo sighed. Omi had been keeping things from them. He knew he was, he could just feel it. Yeah, Omi got talented at lying ever since that thing with Katnappe and Jack Spicer a while back. But Dojo trusted his instincts, he knew there was something up. That's why he'd been keeping an extra special eye on Omi for a while.

Something was eating at the kid...something was definitely bothering him, but for some reason Omi wasn't opening up to them anymore about it.

He also knew Omi disappeared once a month in the middle of the night. But he couldn't let Omi know he was onto him. No, Master Fung instructed Dojo when he first said he was worried about Omi to give the little boy some time. That Omi has to come to them of his own free will. That every wound heals at its own pace. Whatever it is that is bothering him, the round guy obviously is trying to work things himself and figure it out.

But that was what worried Dojo. Omi was still a little kid, and kids tend to sometimes get ideas in their head and do reckless things and before they know it...well, big trouble.

"Any reason you couldn't sleep?" Dojo stared at Omi hard.

Omi's smile diminished, Dojo was hoping this was the moment in all these months Omi would finally come clean about it all.

"I...miss everyone." Omi looked away.

That wasn't quite what Dojo was expecting to hear from him. But he supposed he could work with this.

"Cheer up kid, they'll be back soon." Dojo pats the boy on the back.

"I know, I mean it is just most quiet when they are gone. The temple used to be like this once before, before my friends came." Omi lamented.

"Hey now, you always had me as your friend you know!" Dojo faked like he was hurt.

"Yes, you are a most valuable friend indeed." Omi nodded, "But still, I miss them dearly. I suppose, sometimes I worry what it would be like if—"

Dojo noticed Omi tensed up, his fists tight, the boy clammed up completely. That caused the dragon to frown.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" He slithered up Omi's shoulders, now resting on his big head.

"I do not feel like talking about it." Omi mumbled.

Dojo frowned further. He remembered there was a time when Omi wasn't afraid to talk to at least him. The little boy used to be so happy and chatty...ever since the whole thing with that weird time travel (not that he could recall much of it, only bits and pieces) and Raimundo's promotion, the kid has been like this for months.

He ruled out Omi being jealous over being passed over for the title of leader. No, Omi actually took that well. Sure he was upset, but he could tell Omi was genuinely happy for Raimundo. The kid had grown up in some ways. He knew it wasn't about that. But something happened to have Omi like this.

That was when they heard something, it sounded like broken glass.

"What was that?" Dojo jumped off Omi.

"Someone obviously is foolish enough to break into our temple. They clearly want me to be beating their rear!" Omi hopped off the chair.

"That's kicking their butt." Dojo shook his head.

"Okay, let's go Dojo!" Omi ran off.

Dojo smiled a little and slithered after the young boy. Well at least there was one thing that didn't change.

They searched and searched all over the temple. Besides a broken vase, they found nothing. No sign of a burglar. Omi still was not convinced and decided he was going to check every single slot in the Shen Gong Wu vault to be safe. Omi was in charge of the combinations this week while the others were gone. They rotated every week who got to be in charge, and every day they would make a new combination. They had to take more protective measures considering how the villains have broken into it in the past. Omi got very meticulous about it.

Besides, Kimiko had gotten her dad to send money their way so they can beef up the locks and security they could use on the doors that could lead to the room. Omi made certain there were several locks to open the vault, ones that he changed the combinations to every single day. If any of the locks were ever destroyed, it would sound an alarm (Kimiko even showed them how it all worked). He found it hard to believe anyone could break into the vault while Omi was on duty because of how seriously Omi took on the job of protecting the vault. Raimundo even suggested they let the cue-ball be in charge of it full time because how dedicated Omi was to it, and so far they haven't had a single Shen Gong Wu come close to being robbed in a while.

The locks seemed fine, however, Omi was not that certain everything was okay. So the little boy opened up the vault and went down in to check every single one.

* * *

"Come on boys! Keep digging!" Jack ordered.

Okay so maybe it was like two or four in the morning. Jack didn't remember and honestly didn't care. This supposed haunted cave had burried treasure or whatever. No amount of scolding or scary death stares followed by a declaration that he's grounded would stop the evil boy genius! Besides...his mom wasn't up at this hour, and he was going to be  _rich._

If it was really haunted by some ghost then big deal. Jack worked with  _Wuya_  for a while; there was no specter that could top her. And maybe this ghost will actually stick with him or something (not that he believe it was actually haunted).

"The tunnel to where this supposed treasure is should be around here somewhere." Jack mused out loud while his Jack-bots kept drilling into the rock and dirt.

He started to wonder what this treasure could be. Maybe it will be so amazing, Chase and Wuya would let him hang out with them. His thoughts were distracted when one of his robots tapped him on the shoulder. It looks like his boys had done it, they found the tunnel and were dusting the dirt around it when he saw some Chinese words or whatever they were called but ignored them, not like he could read them.

"Good work boys! Let's get us some treasure!" The teen exclaimed.

He and his robots went further into the tunnel. There were stone pillars with more Chinese writing he didn't understand. Some of them occasionally glowed. Jack would stop and look but nothing appeared to happen, so he kept on trekking down as his loyal robots followed after him.

"This place is weird." Jack shrugged.

They finally got to the end with a large door, it was in the shape of the circle, and more writing that Jack couldn't read was all over it. He then noticed there was an imprint in the shape of hands that were about at his eye level of the door.

He didn't quite understand it, but he knew the treasure had to be on the other side.

"Get ready, I'm about to become insanely rich! No more listening to mom, no more chores for money to build you guys, no more trading favors so I can get money for you guys if my parents don't cough up any dough. Nope! I'm going to be rolling in it!" Jack exclaimed.

But then he had a thought. What if there was more to this treasure, like maybe some ancient powerful object like the Shen Gong Wu. Chase and Wuya would just  _have_ to be impressed! They'd have to let him stick around with them!

He giggled with evil delight. He couldn't contain himself as he placed his hands on the imprints of the door, figuring it could mean something. (If it didn't he'd just make his boys drill through it.)

The Chinese words started to light up and so did the hand symbols. It made this strange sound, like a mix between a hum and a moan. Jack screamed and jumped up incredibly high, shooting up like a rocket. Luckily, one of his robots caught him and set him down on the ground. He then proceeded to hide behind it.

The door evaporated, that was weirder, but what was even weirder was Jack could have sworn he saw a silhouette of a person. He peeked from behind his robot and he started to squint to see if he could get a better look. It almost looked like...

"Wuya?" Jack whispered.

No, it wasn't Wuya. Whoever this girl was who emerged looked very similar to Wuya, but not quite. She was younger looking, like a teenager if he guessed. Her red hair was shorter, and her eyes were brown instead of green. The markings under her eyes were two lines instead of three. She was wearing some long sleeved Chinese styled dress that was purple with black trimming. She had on black leggings it appeared and purple flats.

She looked very disoriented and confused. The girl walked out a bit in a daze, constantly blinking and rubbing her eyes. She shook her head then smacked it once, shook her head again, then blinked more violently. She rubbed her eyes again then started to look around, her jaw dropped open just slightly as she looked a bit surprised.

"Could this be real?" The girl mumbled.

"Umm—hello?"

The girl then looked at Jack, her eyes widened, she took a couple of steps forward.

"Is this really happening?" She asked him.

"Yeah..." Jack raised both brows at her.

She tentatively walked closer to him.

"Then you are—"

She raised her hand as if to touch his face, but did not. Instead her hand hovered in the air as she continued to stare at him.

_"What a weirdo."_  Jack thought to himself.

"It's actually happening?" Her face brightened a little bit, "This is really happening, I am free! And you are really here!"

Her smile grew even bigger. Jack felt himself take a step backward.

"It's really you Jack Spicer, isn't it?" She had small tears well up in her eyes as her grin got even bigger.

"Whoa there, how do you know my name?" Jack demanded.

"Oh this is truly a glorious day, Best Friend Jack! I waited my whole life to finally meet you in person!" The girl then threw her arms around him, as she tackled him into a hug.

Jack had to admit, for a skinny little thing she sure could squeeze. The hug was quite tight and oppressive. He was starting to have trouble breathing.

"Jack-bots...a...little...help." He wheezed.

One of the Jack-bots floated over, a crowbar appeared out of his chest compartment, and it literally pried the girl off him. Jack gasped for air and glared at the girl.

"Forgive me Best Friend Jack. I was just so excited to see you." She giggled.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Oh I am so sorry! You are right, we have only just met. Perhaps it would be better if I called you Best Friend Spicer instead?" She nodded.

"No! Don't call me that! Ugh—forget it, just who the heck are you? How do you know my name?" He questioned.

She grabbed Jack by the arm, he felt uncomfortable at that. Maybe it was because she looked so similar to Wuya, or maybe it was because she was way too friendly. Maybe it was both, but the fact that a Wuya look-a-like was so gosh darn touchy feely and kind, did not sit well with him.

"I shall tell you everything on the way to your house! I've only seen glimpses of it in visions when I saw you. I'd love to see it in person! Come my friend, let us be off!" She dragged him out of the tunnel.

"I just—yeah whatever, just don't wake my parents. They'll take my robots away from me too if they found out I snuck out after grounding me!" He grumbled.

Despite some annoyances, she did have an interesting...history.

Apparently this girl's name was Yun. She was something Wuya created fifteen hundred years ago. She kept referring to Wuya as her mother, so he supposed that would explain the similarities in their appearance. It was just so strange because she was nothing like Wuya.

What made him more curious though was how the girl explained her visions. Apparently she had the power to see the past and future. Not that she could control it, because it seemed the visions came of their own accord, which she had hoped she could train under Master Dashi to help her learn to control it. But Wuya obviously put a can on those plans when she sealed the girl away. She was grounded apparently, he could almost sympathize. On the whole grounding thing that is, just not to the same lengths. At least his mom didn't seal him off in some cave for centuries on end because he happened to hero worship Chase Young. That Wuya really sure knows how to hold a grudge, he knew she hated Dashi, but he never fully realized to how much extent she did.

Apparently the girl said she had several visions about meeting Jack himself and the two of them becoming friends, hence her enthusiasm when finally meeting him.

But Jack felt a smile form on his face while Yun marveled at his robots and other modern things in his lab. He snickered, this could really work in his favor if he played his cards right. If she did learn to control those powers, then he'd know everything those Xiaolin losers do before they do it.

"The answer is no." The girl spoke up out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Jack turned around and blinked, puzzled.

"You are thinking of using my powers for some not so nice purposes. I may not have the ability to read minds, but I know you are thinking it, and the answer is no. I will not help you if my powers are to be used for the sake of evil." Yun stated simply.

"Oh come on, just think about it. I mean, we could make a pretty awesome team." Jack nudged her in the shoulder.

"The answer is still no." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

Jack gave her a crooked frown and stomped away to go eat some of the stale open bag of chips left on one of the counters in his workspace.

"You're no fun." He huffed as he ate a couple.

* * *

Chase and Wuya were standing in a tree outside Spicer's residence. They were waiting there for a couple of minutes until the one person Chase was hoping to see would return to him.

His servant had appeared. The ninja hopped up into the tree as she bowed before Chase. She pulled the sash off, which she had tied to her back and handed it over, the object he requested neatly tied tightly within the sash to prevent it from falling out as she ventured back to her master.

"Were there any complications retrieving what I requested?" Chase asked.

"There were no complications...but...I did make an error my master." Fusa admitted.

Chase raised an eyebrow but kept silent, awaiting for his servant to explain herself.

"I stole what you asked and seemed to slip out without notice, but I then heard voices nearby. It appeared the young Omi, and the dragon were conversing in the kitchen next to the hallway I was making my escape out of. In my haste to make sure I was distant from them, I knocked something over and alerted their attention. I did make it out fine, without them knowing. But still—"

"I am disappointed Fusa. I expect better from one who is supposed to be the stealthiest of my warriors. You need to be extra careful." He commanded.

"Yes my master, I apologize. I will see to it this mistake is never repeated." She bowed her head.

"Good. Now return to the Xiaolin temple but remain outside the walls. Wait till everyone goes to bed but keep an extra eye on the little one. Report back to me at sunrise." The Heylin warlord ordered.

"Yes my lord." The ninja nodded, then disappeared into the shadows.

After a moment of silence Wuya finally spoke up.

"So what did you have your ninja girl get?"

"See for yourself." Chase said.

He untied the cloth that was tightly wrapped around the object so Wuya could have a peek. The witch leaned over his shoulder then gave Chase a sharp grin.

"Ah, I see what you're up too." Wuya laughed lightly.

"Indeed, now let's not keep your daughter waiting." Chase nodded.

* * *

They heard a crash, the door literally blowing off the hinges (Jack may have shrieked and jumped into Yun's arms). When the smoke cleared, they both looked over. Jack couldn't believe his eyes. It was Chase and Wuya.

He felt Yun tense up at the sight of Wuya before dropping Jack. Jack scrambled up to his feet as he dusted his rear off, hoping he looked presentable for the two evil guests.

"Oh...wow, um what are you guys doing here?" Jack beamed but then frowned as he examined the door that was just destroyed, "Ah man, did you really have to do that, I'm in enough trouble as it is with my parents."

"Be silent worm." Chase said in an even tone.

"Yes sir." Jack clammed up immediately.

Jack then felt Yun grabbing onto his shoulders as she hid behind him. The girl was obviously scared. He then remembered Wuya was glaring at her.

"You know, I get the feeling this is a bad time, and clearly you have family issues to sort out...so maybe I should just—"

"I am not leaving with you mother!" Yun cried out.

"See what I mean Chase, it's such a shame. Dashi was a terrible influence." Wuya lamented.

"Chase?" Yun paused, confused, then looked over at the man Wuya was hanging off of, "Wait, I think I know you...weren't you one of Dashi's students?"

"That was a long time ago. Many things have changed since then." Chase gave a small smile.

Jack looked back at Yun and noticed her frown, she looked very disappointed.

"I see, so that vision came true then. You had fallen to the darkness. That's...unfortunate." The girl said crestfallen.

"Indeed I have." Chase said in an almost bored tone, his small smile returned, "Would you like to know something interesting about Dashi?"

The girl perked up a bit, curiosity evident in her face, but she remained firmly hiding behind Jack. He was befuddled why she would hide behind him of all people, but he kept quiet (for once).

"You see, while I didn't get the chance to really know you, I do remember Dashi being fond of you. He found your enthusiasm for his teachings...encouraging." Chase started.

The girl's eyes widened a bit further hearing Chase talk about her old hero, probably very flattered to what Chase had said.

"While I, and another fellow monk were out, hiding two Shen Gong Wu for Dashi with his dragon, apparently that is when Wuya sealed you away. I found out from Dashi that during that time he created another Shen Gong Wu...sure, its abilities had nothing to do with your powers, but all the same, he still decided to name it after you." Chase finished as he pulled a cloth off something in his hands. "I guess you could say he was a bit sentimental, even if it was for just a creation of a witch. He seemed to pity you."

Jack's mouth dropped, recognizing immediately what was in Chase's hands, and he was about to get caught in the middle of it because this girl wouldn't let him go and kept him close.

"Sphere of Yun!"

The magical sphere appeared around them, trapping them both.

"Hey! Let me out!" Jack cried.

So they wanted the girl for her powers to see the future obviously, okay fine, but did they have to bottle him up too?

"Oh right...you're still here. Well on the plus side my dear, you get a toy to play with while you sit in time out." Wuya giggled at her daughter.

Jack grumbled as he glared at Wuya and as soon as she turned back to Chase he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mother please, let me out, don't do this!" Yun begged.

"It breaks my heart Yun-dear to do this—"

"But mother, I thought you didn't have a heart?" The girl blinked.

"That's a soul my dear, I don't have a soul. But yes, technically you are right. I still don't like that I have to do this. I'd much prefer if you just came with Chase and I on your own, but I know that's not going to happen. But don't worry, we're only doing what we do for the cause of evil." Wuya smiled as she combed through a couple of strands of hair with her fingers.

"That's what I was afraid of." Yun pouted.

* * *

It had been a couple of days after Christmas. All in all, Raimundo would say it's been a good year. He got everything he asked for on the list, and the weather had been pretty decent all week. Not to mention his dad cooked a killer dinner that night and his belly was happy.

Six of his eight younger siblings had been running in circles around him all day, asking him questions about the Xiaolin temple and for him to show them some of his moves. He would except for the fact that his mother caught him doing some moves and scolded him something royal about doing tai chi in the house (it wasn't like he broke anything yet).

His two other siblings were currently watching TV, a marathon of one of their favorite shows was on. But Raimundo disappointed them when he turned it off.

"Hey!"

His younger brother Davi did not look too pleased with him, he could see his sister Ingrid frown up at him as well.

Raimundo was the oldest of nine children. Yeah he had a huge family, but both his parents came from a huge family, so it was sort of the natural order of things. He had four brothers and four sisters. There was Ingrid, the second oldest who was twelve. Davi came after her, he was ten. Then there was his sister Cecilia, she was nine. After her came the twins, his sister Senna and brother Sancho, who both were eight. Next came his sister Yarah, who was seven. Then after her was his little brother Miguel, who was six. Lastly, the littlest, was his youngest brother Rico, who was five.

"Hey, chill you two. It's almost bedtime, and the little ones all want a story before bed. This is the biggest room that can fit you lot so I can tell it." He laughed, "Besides, you might enjoy it. It's way cooler than whatever you are watching. In fact, my story is so cool, they should make it into a show."

"Uh-huh, sure it is Raimundo." Ingrid rolled her eyes and pulled up her phone, probably to play some game on it.

"Oh don't be that way." Raimundo smiled, putting on his charm as he threw his arm over his sister.

"You want to tell us the tales of the mighty four dragons again?" Davi rolled his eyes.

"Oh please, don't act like you didn't even get into it, I noticed you both listening intently to it a couple of days ago. And yes, that's exactly what I'm going to tell. Another adventure of the mighty Xiaolin Dragons." Raimundo said dramatically.

"What, another battle with the evil witch Bruxa? Or perhaps the evil monkey Tolo?" Ingrid scoffed, trying to pretend she wasn't the least bit interested.

"Nope, not today. No, instead we get something different. This time the dragons are going to face their toughest challenge yet..." Before Raimundo could finish six little faces came running into the room.

They all were laughing and jumping around all excited. Raimundo managed to get them to quiet down and they all gathered around the very large, but very old and worn out sofa with him. Rico, his youngest sibling, climbed into his lap. Ingrid remained at his right, while his sister Yarah climbed over to his left. Davi kept to the other side of Ingrid, while Cecilia sat down next to him. Miguel plopped down by Yarah, while the twins, Sancho and Senna sat over by Miguel.

"Looks like everyone is here...awesome, now I can start up the story before you runts all run off to bed." Raimundo grinned.

Raimundo may have been recanting the tales of the adventures of him and his friends. Granted with some twists. Everyone got a name change, and they were all literally dragons in his story. Omi, Clay, Kimiko and Fung. All of them (well Dojo remained a dragon). Wuya remained a witch in his stories, but Jack was turned into a monkey in his stories because, well, it fit for that weirdo. In his stories, Dojo was called  _Lagarto_ , and Master Fung was the wise old dragon named  _Velho_. Wuya was a witch named _Bruxa_  and Jack was a monkey named  _Tolo_. Omi was the littlest dragon, who was a sea dragon that could spit out water and ice, named  _Regar_. Kimiko was your traditional fire-breathing dragon, with a temper to match, named  _Chama_. Clay was the gentle but strong dragon who could make earth tremors, named  _Terra_. And lastly, Raimundo of course was the leader of the band of dragons, a dragon who could control the wind and storms, named  _Vento_.

He was thankful that, for whatever reason, normal people aren't fully aware of anything mystical or magical. You could ask his parents about any end of the world scenario and they wouldn't remember. For whatever reason, perhaps some ancient spirit or what not decreed this on high...but when anything cataclysmic is prevented (like when Wuya or Chase ruled the world and plunged it into darkness) those incidents eventually become forgotten memories in the mind of the people. There is no trace of it, not even in documents. It's as if it magically erases itself like it never happened.

Though Master Fung says those who were personally part of it or heavily involved in the mystical and magical realm would of course...but it's for the protection of normal people. As normal people would probably not know how to handle things like giant spiders or witches or immortal warriors who can turn into dragon monsters. He could only imagine the militaries of the world going into a panic and sending their armies after Chase and Wuya...yeah that would be a disaster.

Whatever the real reason that he couldn't fully comprehend (it seemed even Master Fung was a bit confused at that), that was how it's always been, even before Dashi. But he was grateful for it. His mother and father only know of his training to some extent. He could only imagine his mother's reaction if she knew Raimundo fought stuff on a daily basis like giant spiders and evil demon beans from other dimensions. The woman was quite protective of her children.

"Raimundo are you going to tell the story or not?" Cecilia asked impatiently.

"Sorry guys, I was just thinking of how to start this brilliant story." Raimundo laughed.

"Well get on it already!" Senna and Sancho whined at the same time.

"Well...you all know the four dragons were the best of friends. They lived happily with the funny Lagarto and his master, who was also their oh so wise teacher, Master Velho. Things seemed to be going just fine for them. They had no worries. No dumb smelly monkey Tolo, no hag witch Bruxa. They kept the world at peace. But little did they know, their toughest challenge was just on the horizon." Raimundo started.

The eight little faces stared up at Raimundo causing him to smile. He loved telling them these stories. They always got so into it. It was even more amusing because Davi and Ingrid pretended they didn't care but they were just as into it as the other little ones.

"Their new enemy, was the evil dragon known as Mal Guerreiro." Raimundo narrowed his eyes with intensity, as he came up with a name for Chase Young.

He felt all eyes on him, the room completely silent. He didn't even hear the kids fidgeting in their seat anymore.

"You see, Mal Guerreiro was thousands of years old. He became an immortal dragon."

"Rai, whuzat mean? Immoral?" His littlest sibling, Rico asked from on his lap.

Raimundo ruffled the little boy's hair.

"That's immortal, not immoral. And immortal means that you can't age, you literally can live forever without aging at all! And you're pretty hard to kill too."

"No wrinklin' or nothin'?" Rico's eyes widened.

"Exactly. So anyways, you wanna know why he was an immortal?" Raimundo paused as the room got silent again. "He was quite the scary villain you see, Mal Gurerreiro could live forever and became powerful because...he  _ate_ dragons!"

All eight of his siblings gasped.

"Wait if he's a dragon why does he eat dragons?" Yarah asked.

"Rai, does that mean the evil dragon is a cannibal?" Ingrid then asked after her.

"Yeah basically." Raimundo stated with a shrug.

All but Miguel, Rico and Yarah gasped, the littlest ones obviously not knowing what a cannibal is.

"What does—"

"Hold that thought for another time Rico, then I'll explain what it means. Let's just get back to the story." Raimundo laughed.

He noticed his sister Ingrid looked incredibly disgusted. Raimundo grinned, yeah he was having fun but big brothers are supposed to tease their younger siblings sometimes. It's good for them.

"In fact...he could be in this very room right now. Ready to eat  _you!_ "

The older boy starts chasing after the eight children in the room, roaring as if he was a dragon, the kids all laughing and screaming.

"How many times have I said no running in the house?!" They heard their mother call from downstairs.

They all halted in their tracks, deflated and sat down in their original spots on the couch, little Rico the last one, as he crawled back up into Raimundo's lap.

The nine siblings all cried out in unison, "Sorry mom!"

When everything settled down, Cecilia was fiddling where she was sitting, obviously anxious.

"Come on, Raimundo! Get back to the story!" She begged as she fiddled with her shirt.

"You got it Cecilia...let's see, oh yeah..." Raimundo grinned again as he got back to the story.

The eight faces were glued to him once more. If he was Omi his head would probably swell from being the center of attention, but he couldn't help but love it.

"So as I was saying earlier, the reason he's so old is because he makes this soup. It's thanks to this evil soup that can make him immortal and very powerful, but the main ingredient for this soup is dragons. That's how our dragon heroes met the evil dragon, Mal Guerreiro. You see, he took their good friend and guide, the little Lagarto, and tried to cook him into his soup to eat!" Raimundo exclaimed.

Raimundo heard his twin siblings gasp at the same time. He looked over at Sancho and Senna to see they were nervous.

"No, he can't eat him!" Sancho whined.

"Yeah, not funny Uncle Lagarto!" Senna agreed.

Raimundo couldn't help but find it cute that the twin's favorite character in these stories was Dojo, they loved him so much that they nicknamed him "uncle" because they felt the character was like an uncle to the four dragons in his stories.

Raimundo laughed and gave them a smile.

"Don't worry guys, our heroes saved Uncle Lagarto from getting eaten."

The twins both sighed in relief.

"So they were all happy and things were pretty chill. Vento, Terra and Chama at least thought things were okay." Raimundo trailed off.

"What do you mean, Raimundo? Did something bad happen?" Cecilia asked.

"You see, Mal Guerreiro, he has many who serve him. Fallen warriors that he tricked into serving him that he transforms into animals. He had his sights set on someone else to become one of his new warriors. He felt with the help of this new warrior, he would have the power to completely take over the world." Raimundo lowered his voice, the kids all froze at the intensity.

"Who was it that the evil dragon wanted?" Miguel asked anxiously.

"He wanted one of our heroes, the youngest and smallest dragon amongst them. He wanted little Regar."

He watched the faces of his young siblings all tense up, now even more anxious.

"So many things happened under the other dragons' noses. You see, I suppose it all started when an evil bug crawled inside Terra and possessed him. He tried to use him to get magical objects to become invincible." Raimundo started up his recap of the Sibini incident.

"Rai, what does "invinchible" mean?" Rico asked.

"That's invincible, and well, it means someone who's unbeatable." Raimundo answered the little boy on his lap.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, yeah, anyways! Continue with the story!" Yarah exclaimed as she shook Raimundo's arm.

"Right...so basically, when they went to go look for Terra who was possessed, they didn't realize it, but little Regar actually ran into Mal Guerreiro. He secretly taught Regar a powerful fighting move along with some other combat advice on how to stop the evil spirit possessing their friend." Raimundo explained.

"Wait, why would he help though?" Davi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Shhhh!" The twins glared at Davi.

"You see, that is a good question, but I promise it will make sense soon when I explain it in a minute. So anyways…they all found Terra, and fought him to get the evil bug out of him that was controlling him. Things weren't looking good, but then Regar used the technique and advice that was given to him by the evil dragon. He successfully exhausted Terra's body, the big dragon collapsed, and the evil earwig climbed out. He tried to go after the mystical objects still, but then Chama stepped in and fought him for the objects and defeated him, sealing him inside the very objects it was after with her mighty fire powers!" Raimundo grinned, thinking back to Kimiko's showdown against Sibini.

"Cool!" His siblings cried out in unison.

Raimundo then recapped the events in which Jack Spicer trapped Chase into the Sphere of Yun, and Omi sneaking out to free him secretly when the others showed up only for Chase to trick them into thinking Omi was only there to get the Shen Gong Wu (of course he may have changed the details). He then recanted the whole incident with Jack and Katnappe, and then with Jermaine's return. Finally, getting into the incident with the giant spiders.

His siblings were so enamored with the entire thing.

"Then what happened next?" Ingrid asked.

"Well, Master Velho disappeared. Lagarto said that the evidence pointed to his disappearance meaning one thing. He was trapped in the mysterious Yin Yang World. They knew there was a mystical object that could only send them there. They thought the monkey Tolo had it. But it turned out it was a trick. When Tolo attacked the temple, Regar was the only one who was outside the temple at the time, so he didn't get trapped with the others from Tolo's minions." Raimundo explained.

He heard Senna sneeze in the corner, Sancho gave her a tissue, the two looked up at him, as with their eyes saying  _"don't you dare stop."_  He smiled and continued.

"Regar at that time was very conflicted. He felt loyalty to his friends and to the side of good. All the while though, he and his friends were having arguments. At the same time, Mal Guerreiro was slithering his way into the young dragon's good graces, making the little guy feel like he could trust his judgment and word. Actually listening to the evil one's advice and ideas. But the guy was still evil, however, the little dragon felt in his heart he belonged on the side of good, not evil. But he wasn't exactly getting along with his friends at that time, and they didn't listen much to him. The evil one played to the water dragon's insecurities and gave Regar the attention he wanted and the trust he craved." Raimundo said with a frown.

He heard a couple of his siblings let out a sigh, worry in their faces. The only other sound in the silent room was the ceiling fan and distant noises of his mother and father talking downstairs as they both clean up the kitchen.

"So Mal Guerreiro came back to the temple with the littlest dragon, bringing his mighty animal servants, they attacked Tolo's forces together. Mal Guerreiro and Regar actually fought side-by-side, much like they did against the spiders. The two were in perfect unison together; they actually made a very good team. Vento was slightly disturbed at that, but he was just happy to see Regar was okay. When Regar came to free them from the trap that Tolo placed the three dragons in, they happily were reunited and thanked the littlest dragon. But...Mal Guerreiro was still there, he forced Tolo to give up the magical object that was used to enter into the mysterious Yin Yang World."

Raimundo reached over and grabbed a glass of water that he had on the little coffee table, took a quick sip of the cold clear water, took a breath, and then set it down.

"You see, it was a trick; Tolo never really had the real magical object they needed. Mal Guerreiro had the mystical item all along, and he was the one who sent their Master Velho to the Yin Yang World. They didn't know anything about the Yin Yang World, so even when his friends stated they shouldn't rush into things, Regar had anyway. He was tired of nobody listening to him, he grabbed the magical item, and used it to enter the Yin Yang World." Raimundo shook his head.

He heard Ingrid let out a huge sigh, a frown of disapproval on her face.

"The little dragon did it though. He found their Master Velho, who appeared to be in a deep sleep. He grabbed him and used the object to return home, but something was wrong. Because Regar went in without knowing what would happen...he came out all wrong." The oldest brother frowned.

"What do you mean?" Miguel asked.

"You see, the mystical object was one of two. They represent Yin and Yang, light and dark. If you go in with only one and you're evil, you'll come out good. If you go in with one, and you're good—"

"You come out evil?" Davi interrupted.

"Right..." Raimundo nodded.

Yarah started to bury her face in her hands, shaking her head. Miguel squeezed his little fists around the fabric of his shirt. He noticed Senna and Sancho hold onto each other's hands. Rico was squeezing the fabric of Raimundo's shirt. Davi and Ingrid both looked at each other with a heavy frown on their face. Cecilia kept blinking constantly, something she does when she's nervous.

He then told the kids about how Omi, because he was evil, was tricked into swearing his loyalty to Chase Young as well as the monks traveling to the Yin Yang World with Jack Spicer and Jack coming out good instead of evil. They returned the good chi to Omi, but were forced to leave him behind because Omi swore his loyalty to Chase when he was evil.

Rico, the little tender-heart that the youngest was, started to tear up a little hearing they had to leave Omi...little Regar...behind. Raimundo put a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder and continued the story.

He told them of the Chi Creature, and how it nearly sucked them all dry. How it was thanks to Jack Spicer (who sacrificed being good to turn evil again just so he could get everyone's chi), and Dojo that they were saved. How they challenged Chase to a Showdown for Omi's freedom.

His siblings all brightened up hearing that Omi was free and the world was saved. He forced them all into a huddle and hugged all of his siblings.

"Alright you stink-heads, it's time for bed." Raimundo laughed.

He heard some whining from the littlest ones, but Raimundo shushed them, reminding them what Mom said before they all came up stairs. One by one, the siblings left the room. Raimundo got a buzz in his pocket, he checked his phone, and it was a text from Kimiko.

"Rai, call me ASAP." He read the text out loud.

He couldn't help but grin, looking forward to hearing from Kimiko. But she'd have to wait a couple of minutes. His youngest siblings would be expecting him to tuck them in.

So he ran to the rooms the twins first, tucking the two in and made a couple of jokes before leaving. Then he went to his sister Yarah, who upon the moment of seeing him started to be the little chatterbox that she is. Yarah and Rico were the siblings that he had to admit, sometimes reminded him of Omi. Both were very naive and innocent, very gullible. They completely didn't realize when you were teasing them or making fun of them. And both were very curious but sometimes bratty, but still good kids.

"Okay slow down your chatter mouth little lady, it's bed time you know." Raimundo laughed.

"Fine." She pouted. "But we're gonna play some games tomorrow right?"

"Maybe, we'll see, now get some sleep lil sis." Raimundo pat the girl on the head.

He then tucked Miguel into bed, the boy begging Raimundo to tell him another story, but Raimundo had to disappoint him. Only one was to be told, then bedtime. That was the deal. The boy pouted and glared, but Raimundo pat him on the head, then turned to little Rico who shared a room with Miguel. Rico jumped out of bed, knowing his big brother would catch him. Raimundo smiled, but then forced the rugrat into bed, tucking the kid in, then turning the lights out.

He made his way to his bedroom, flipped out his phone and dialed Kimiko's number. After two rings, Kimiko answered.

"Rai?" He heard her voice.

"A lovely morning to you Kim—it is morning where you are right?" He asked.

"Not important right now Rai." Kimiko said.

He could feel Kimiko roll her eyes on the other side of the line, even if he couldn't see her.

"Okay, so shoot, what's the deal?" He pried both his tennis shoes off before flopping on his bed.

"Rai, Dojo told me some news that's very...concerning." She said in seriousness.

He sat up and slipped his socks off, his eyes narrowed, but still a bit curious. One of his eyebrows raised as he stared at the wall.

"What news?" He asked.

He heard a sigh through the phone.

"It's about Omi." She said finally in between pauses.

"Omi? What about the little dude?" He asked evenly, concern was still evident in his voice though.

"Dojo noticed that Omi has been disappearing, he's been keeping an eye on him but didn't say anything to anyone except Master Fung. Apparently, Master Fung felt that whatever it is that was bothering the little guy was something they should give Omi time to talk about. But Dojo decided to follow anyway, and for the first time in Fung's life, he's wrong." Kimiko stated.

"How come?" Raimundo inquired as he reached over for a can half full of soda that he left on the dresser next to his bed all day.

The boy started to drink the last of the contents while Kimiko explained.

"He followed Omi a couple of weeks ago when he disappeared again in the middle of the night. He then realized where Omi has been disappearing to once a month in the middle of the night, right under our noses." Kimiko paused, taking a breath, "Omi's been going to Chase Young."

Raimundo choked on the soda he was drinking, coughing as he squeezed the can to the point it was crushed on impulse.

"What!?" Raimundo did his best to keep his voice down.

"And he disappeared again, just a couple of nights ago. That's now twice in one month, Dojo's afraid Omi might start making these visits more frequent." Kimiko stated with worry.

Raimundo rubbed his forehead. He couldn't believe that little idiot. Whatever Omi was planning, it would probably blow up in his face before he could hatch it. He was so frustrated he didn't even really pay attention to Kimiko talking about someone breaking into the temple and stealing the Sphere of Yun a couple of days ago.

"So, what do we do about it?" Kimiko asked.

The Xiaolin leader sighed and shook his head.

"We need to be careful. This is Chase Young we're talking about. We can't give Omi any reason to trust him over us. Don't let him know we're onto him just yet. Call up Dojo and tell him to pick you up immediately, I need one of us there at least with him. I'll call up Clay and tell him our vacation is cut short, I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, I got the Silver Manta Ray with me, so I'll go pick up Clay and we'll return to the temple shortly." He instructed.

"Okay. I'll see you soon." Kimiko sighed.

"Yeah, see you soon. Thanks for letting me know Kimiko." He sighed and hung up.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes Chapter 3! So we finally get to meet Yun!
> 
> And like I said, my OC's aren't the focus, just side characters. Yun and Jack is in NO WAY going to be a pairing, just have an odd friendship that will be hilarious and cute. The only ship teases I have planned are RaiKim and Chuya.
> 
> I actually have art of Fusa, Yun and Raimundo's siblings.
> 
> Here is Raimundo and his siblings.
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/76301017462/this-sketch-that-i-was-working-on-is-now
> 
> And Fusa and Yun.
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/76572563856/okay-some-more-art-for-my-fanfic-stuff-under
> 
> And this hilarious moment of Jack jumping into Yun's arms.
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/76805624886/after-writing-this-moment-in-chapter-3-of-jack
> 
> Okay with Raimundo's siblings, you see, my dad went on a mission in Brazil years ago when he was younger, and one of his favorite families that he baptized was a family and their four kids names were Rico, Miguel, Yarah and Cecilia. He lived there for two years and loved it, that family still sends him Christmas cards every year, so I named some of the siblings after them. The rest I actually named after a couple of exchange students I knew in high school: Sancho, Senna and Davi. The last one, Ingrid, I named after one of my first roommates in college. She was really nice, we still talk to each other often. Her family came to America from Brazil when she was young, and she's just an all around awesome human being so yeah.
> 
> Unfortunately, my dad was out of town. I wanted to ask him some words in Portuguese for the sake of this story for Raimundo's story to his siblings, because my dad still speaks it fluently (for his company they have a couple of trade partners in Brazil and other parts of the world, so my dad always closes those deals for Brazil since he can still speak the language).
> 
> So I just relied on internet, so if anything's off, let me know. If not, I'll be messaging my friend Ingrid to see if things are correct.
> 
> Bruxa means Witch (Wuya), Tolo means Fool (Jack...I'm sorry Jack, I still love you), Mal means Evil and Guerreiro means Warrior (Chase Young). Velho means Old (Master Fung), Lagarto means Lizard (Dojo, I figured it'd fit since when they first met Rai called Dojo a gecko). Vento means Wind (Raimundo), Chama means Fire (Kimiko), Terra means Earth (Clay), and Regar means Water (Omi).
> 
> One thing that bothers me is we never got to see Raimundo's family in Showdown, they were only mentioned. So...here we go! Raimundo and his family, they give me feels because they're so awesome and wonderful!
> 
> Poor Jack, I'm so sorry I made you scream like a girl twice in one chapter but your girly screams give me life and put a smile on a face of even the saddest soul! 
> 
> Also the chapter was longer than intended, but when writing this chapter before posting it on ff.net-I was forcing myself to watch Xiaolin Chronicles (WHICH PISSES ME OF SO MUCH OMG I HATE IT!)...one thing that really had me miffed was the flanderization of some characters; Dojo especially. Not too mention just how much Dojo is disrespected-by the writers and characters of the show!
> 
> I need some Dojo and Omi friendly love, my soul needed it like burning. So that part had to be included.
> 
> So there is that, thank you for reading, thank you so much for your support, you all are wonderful human beings. Please leave a review and let me know what you think :D
> 
> Also special thanks to my wonderful beta and all around awesome friend, Janie aka tumblr user just-absolutely-super.


	4. According To Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wuya musing about her lastest schemes with Chase while ignoring two annoyances, Chase scheming his usual schemes, and Omi and Raimundo do chores. Raimundo has more on his mind than scrubbing floors. Like how to keep Omi from falling into another one of Chase's traps, but how to break it also to Omi they're all onto his secrets without making Omi lose trust in them.

* * *

Wuya sighed to herself as she brushed her hair.

It's been only a couple of days since they had " _picked up_ " her daughter (along with an unwelcome guest, but Chase wasn't about to release the sphere just so they could get Jack out only for Yun to possibly try to run away. It was much easier just taking them both—besides they both figured Yun would be less annoying if she had someone to keep her company while in confinement), but Wuya was a bit bored.

Chase refused anyone to bother him while he was meditating. The key to utilizing her daughter's powers was concentration. Dashi would have probably attempted to teach Yun how to control her powers through meditation and focus, but obviously that hadn't happened thanks to Wuya.

If anyone knew absolute focus, it was Chase. He was meditating for hours on end, using his training and sharp mind to focus and concentrate on the ability to use Yun's powers to have visions. While Wuya's personal creation may have her head in the clouds and not know how to properly meditate and focus, it did not matter. All they needed was for her to stay in that sphere and Chase would be able to take it from there.

Wuya sighed again as she braided her hair, satisfied with the end result of it as she flicked the braid back over her shoulders. The Heylin witch sprawled out on the chaise lounge in her room, ignoring the two teenagers trapped in the sphere behind her. She ran her fingers over the black silk robe she was wearing.

It was quite the beauty. If there was one thing she couldn't deny about Chase, the man had taste. The black robe was trimmed with gold string, a design of a golden dragon coiled within the silk fabric around the bottom, a lovely robe indeed. For any to behold the witch, they would note she was the picture of languid elegance as she yawned lightly. She placed the lovely silver brush down on the small table next to her and stared up at the marble ceiling.

This was a common thing. She may have annoyed Chase in the past; whatever complaint it was she had, he would always do this. While it wasn't a Shen Gong Wu, she always found he'd have a servant fetch something for her to appease her just so she wouldn't annoy him about why he wouldn't participate in going after Shen Gong Wu...making her stay put. A material possession of some sort, it didn't matter what it was. It would vary between clothes, jewelry, or decorations of some sort that she might fancy.

She knew he didn't do it for any sentimental reasons. It wasn't an apology or peace offering; it was no different than a parent giving a toddler candy so the whelp would shut up and stop bugging them. It didn't keep her quiet for long, but it would appease her for a time being. She couldn't help it if the Shen Gong Wu were one of the few things she coveted above all else...but even if it wasn't for any thoughtful reason or adoration of any sort, she certainly wasn't going to complain about the  _"gifts"._

Chase certainly was quite the refined sort. He may be a ruthless, cunning warrior, but the man was quite cultured. The Heylin warlord was a mystery to her. She didn't know much of his history but judging from the way Chase talks, the way he holds himself, the food he eats, the architecture and design of his home, to the things he has his servants fetch for her...you can't just acquire such sophistication and taste from anywhere. Chase clearly had to have some noble ancestry before his turn, before becoming a Xiaolin monk. It wouldn't surprise her if the man was from a noble clan. The way he commanded those that followed him even suggests that; it left her with the impression that Chase was used to giving orders. Not that she'd ever know, Chase didn't divulge much of his history and she doubted he ever would openly do so.

Yes, Chase Young was an interesting sort. She didn't think so at first but the more she got to know him, the more fascinated by him she became. Originally, he was a means to an end to her. Sure, she may have developed a slight attraction for the man (and who could blame her—the man had power, intelligence, and he had such command and authority that demanded you obey and respect him...yes, she was so drawn to that power and charisma), but now it was different. Sure, there was one thing that Wuya cares about above all else (and Chase was no different from her in that regard): herself...but she couldn't afford to be Chase's enemy. And if she was perfectly honest, she didn't want to be either. Yes, his new promise to her made her more than dedicated to never betraying the man again, but Chase Young was just so fascinating. It was something as simple as curiosity, she was eager to see his plans in action.

Out of everyone she has met on the Heylin side, Chase Young was the only one she felt had the chance to succeed in conquering the world. Besides herself, Chase is the only other one that had—for a moment—control of the world. And there was certainly no one like Chase Young on the Heylin side. She has come across several characters, both in the past and in these modern times, and not one of them impressed her in a way like Chase Young did. He was quite the intriguing specimen.

Her time with Chase has taught her much; her best interests are always with Chase. Not just because others have failed or because—without her knowing at that time mind you—of restoring her to her body in which he put a power limiting spell on her ghost form (those spells are quiet, unnoticed, and while not impossible to break they are difficult, but Chase can easily undo what he had done), but she placed value on him.

Hannibal Roy Bean was a fool; her time with both him and Chase has taught her that. The small red demon was overconfident—cunning yes, but far too overconfident. Plus he just wasn't the visionary like Chase Young. Hannibal was still dangerous but the demon had so far done nothing to prove he would succeed in conquering. In the same amount of time Wuya and Chase have fought the monks, both of them at least succeeded in controlling the world for a short period. Hannibal had not. He has on multiple occasions underestimated his enemies and even his own allies. After all, he felt that turning Chase evil would help him secure a victory against Guan and Dashi. Instead, after he turned evil, Chase trapped the bean in the Ying Yang world for fifteen hundred years. Not to mention Chase successfully, for a time period, had Omi under his influence. Hannibal got fooled yet again but by Raimundo, and the boy rose to becoming probably the biggest thorn in Hannibal's side since Chase himself.

She also come to realize that there was no way Hannibal Roy Bean would ever fulfill any promise of helping her restore her to her full powers. At least she knew if Chase succeeded, she was by his side and got a spot next to him in ruling the world. Now of course there was the fact that he promised to restore her to her full powers when his plan succeeds.

Yes, her and Chase don't exactly trust each other but she could trust his word. Granted, Chase never actively betrayed her, just limited her in many endeavors because the man was annoyingly cautious. But still...they were both evil and in the world of evil, betrayal is second nature. She was thankful she at least had a promise from him on something. That was at least some comfort because the Heylin warrior never went back on his word.

That thought then brought the witch to her previous conversation with her daughter (as she proceeded to ignore Jack's presence during said conversation) who questioned the nature of her relationship with Chase.

Of course Yun wouldn't understand and neither could Jack. Yun was naive and lead astray by those stupid morals that Dashi and the other monks striven to uphold (and Jack was just an idiot).

She did not love Chase Young and he did not love her. Love was a fickle and foolish emotion. It lead people astray, the source of weaknesses that could be easily exploited without fail. People killed for the sake of love, people died for the sake of love, people lied and betrayed even for love, and people could be used for the sake of love. It turned people into fools and they did idiotic things because of it. Love was not an emotion you could trust. Something that causes pain, suffering, anger, hatred, betrayal, happiness, joy and heartbreak...no, an emotion that could cause all of the above was certainly not to be trusted (especially when it turned you into a twit).

Love, that most unreliable and pitiful emotion came in many forms. She glared at the ceiling, remembering a certain memory. Yes, love was part of the reason she lost. Because Raimundo had loved his friends, the boy betrayed her. She had yet to make the Dragon of Wind pay for that but soon he will, as will his precious friends that he cherishes so dearly.

What her and Chase had was something different. It was not something as pathetic or asinine.

It was multiple things really, one of those being attraction.

Much as Chase pretends otherwise, there is a mutual desire they have for each other. Wuya smirked proudly at that thought. Indeed, while he may push her away and scoff at most of her advances, the man could not forever hide his hunger. Of course Chase Young was still a man of pride. He would not be lead astray so easily, especially not in front of his warriors. He wanted to keep up that image of a man always in control. But there were those rare occasions, when he was incredibly stressed and doing his best to calm himself, that Wuya may come in and  _"help"_  a bit by perhaps a massage on the shoulders and neck. Or perhaps things are going exactly as he planned and the man couldn't be more pleased with himself. Wuya may be a bit of a kiss up in those moments, feed his ego with sweet words of praise and satisfactions. Although it was those moments when they were alone, those small rare moments...Chase may have given in a couple of times to her advances. She doubted anyone could satisfy his appetite in those sparse moments other than herself. Several warlords, demons, and evil wizards in the past had come to desire her...she  _was_ quite the catch. But none of those simpletons compared to the immortal warrior she allied herself with in these present days. She doubted anyone else could satisfy her either.

Another one of the things is that, at least to some degree, they do respect each other. Sometimes it was genuine respect and being impressed with one another, while other times it would be a begrudging admiration. But it was still there.

No, they don't love each other and they don't fully trust each other. Really, she couldn't blame Chase for not trusting her. After what she pulled, she doubted he would ever come to fully trust her ever again, but still, her daughter and others could never fully comprehend their relationship.

They do not love each other but they do value each other. If there was someone who personified evil more perfectly than either of them, Wuya certainly had never met them (unless you counted Hannibal Roy Bean, but he wasn't nearly as impressive to her as Chase was). They were accomplices, partners...together for the sake of evil. She could hardly doubt anyone else would understand, but she didn't care if they didn't because she knew and so did Chase. They were the only ones who could. They made better allies than enemies and evil cannot defeat the annoying Xiaolin warriors so long as they are pitted against each other. Which was of importance to get rid of Hannibal. She knew he would never have her as his equal, never would restore her powers; she'd be nothing more than a lackey. If she allied with Chase, who was enemies with Hannibal, then he's also her enemy. Chase at least has proven that he would share the world with her, and of course there was still his recent promises to her. Chase wanted to rule the world and so did she...it was in their benefit if they united. Evil would succeed and good shall fall so long as they worked together. She needed him to succeed and he valued having her as a partner. If he did not place any value on her at all, he wouldn't even let her hang around.

For the best interests of all things evil, as well as their own benefits, it was best they remained with each other. So what if there wasn't complete trust? That was natural with anyone who is Heylin. Who cares if they did not love each other? That was such an unreliable emotion anyway. They had at least some respect for one another, there was a mutual attraction, and they valued each other's abilities and skills. They needed each other in order to win this war. They both had parts to play in the grand scheme of things.

"You know, I just realized I haven't needed to go to the bathroom in a couple of days...how does that work?" Jack grumbled.

Wuya let out an exasperated sigh. Bored she may be, but she still preferred the silence to Jack's voice. She knew why Chase kept them in here. Jack was pathetic, but he was still a slippery little brat. He can be an idiot but he does have his moments. Plus people do crazy things when they are desperate and they don't need Yun escaping right now; she is still needed for the time being. Jack wouldn't dare try anything as long as Wuya was around. When she isn't, the cats stick around and monitor the two. Originally the two were in another room with the cats watching them, but this was Chase's way of revenge towards her for interrupting one of his meditation sessions yesterday.

"You're in the Sphere of Yun, Jack. Both of your bodies are kept alive in there for the sake of keeping you trapped, hence why you both do not have need of eating or other digestive issues." Wuya said lazily.

The woman rolled her eyes as Jack rambled about his confusion as to how that worked. Really, could the boy not comprehend the whole magic thing?

"Wuya, I'm bored." Jack whined.

"Join the club." Wuya closed her eyes, then added with a hiss, "Find a way to entertain yourselves, it's not my job."

She let out a whistle, a couple of Chase's cats emerging immediately. Chase told them to only respond to her whistle call, to take over watching the two if Wuya was either hungry or needed to bathe or something. But for that reason only. They did not obey her; they were loyal to one man only.

"Keep an eye on these twerps. I'm going to get myself something to eat." She yawned.

And with that the witch left the room. She figured that perhaps after getting herself a snack she could go hide out in Chase's library and take a nap, away from that annoying so called  _"evil boy genius"_. Yun was a bit annoying too, but her daughter knew better than to get on the witch's bad side. She needed space from those teenagers.

* * *

Chase had meditated practically non-stop. In the past couple of days, the only time he did take a break from meditating was for a quick meal or for a short rest.

He supposed he should be grateful towards that fool, Dashi, for teaching him proper meditation techniques.

It was easy to see why Wuya's  _"daughter"_  could not control the powers given to her when Wuya cast the Oracle Spell at the moment of her creation. The visions would come and go as they pleased, so it took an expert mind to control such an ability. You needed absolute focus. The girl was a bit on the scatter-brained side, her mind wandered and would distract easily. She did not have the proper discipline or concentration. He was left with the impression that the girl was naturally disorganized and filled with much uncertainty.

You needed focus and control, to know what you are looking for and organize your thoughts. It was no problem for Chase and as much as he hated that they had to use a Shen Gong Wu in order to utilize her powers, it was necessary. He would be able to speed up his plans properly with the aid of the seer powers. He'd be able to conceive every possible option to counter every step that his enemies could make.

Though if he was honest, the main reason he wanted to utilize these powers was not just so he could know the location of the (yet to be revealed) Shen Gong Wu he knew he needed for his plan to succeed. It was because of Hannibal Roy Bean. The small, red demon may be overconfident and lacked the visionary forethought a true evil villain should, but the bean was still something to never underestimate. Chase knew this better than anyone. He was grateful that the monks at least remained Hannibal's main focus; however, that didn't change the fact that he tried to keep tabs on Chase and Wuya. Sure, the Heylin warrior kept the bean off his scent over the past months, but he was not going to start to relax his caution just because Hannibal hadn't caught on yet.

Chase smiled despite all this, feeling that he gathered enough sufficient information he needed. Granted he realized he was changing his plans up quite a bit from what he originally planned, but in the end it would be worth it. Wuya's creation may be feeble and trivial, but she at least proved of  _some_  use. Her vision abilities have been most efficient for him so far.

Now he supposed it was time to set the first phase of his plan into motion: to deal with Hannibal Roy Bean.

Chase opened his eyes and rose from where he was sitting in the center of the room, candles floating around him. He snapped his fingers and a tiger appeared from the shadows.

"Garreth, go fetch Wuya for me. You will find her napping in the library instead of watching the two prisoners like she should be." Chase instructed.

The jungle cat bowed then turned and left. Chase had a bit of time before Wuya would get there. He knew once she was found, she'd run to go change.

He closed his eyes once more, pressed his hands together and took a breath. With his mind, he sent each of the floating candles to rest back on each stand. He opened his eyes once more, running a glance all around the room...the architecture, each stone and every little detail. How grand his lair was, far more impressive than any temple.

His thoughts were brought back to young Omi. The boy couldn't be more different than himself, and yet at the same time couldn't be more similar. He knew Wuya didn't understand his fixation on bringing Omi to the Heylin side, but that was understandable.

To Wuya, Omi was nothing more than a child and an annoying one at that. But to Chase, he saw not  _just_  a boy with tremendous potential, not  _just_  someone he felt in his bones was the chosen one of the prophecy he remembered hearing time and time again when he was training under Dashi. Despite their many obvious differences, Chase saw himself in Omi.

Chase had not forgotten what it was like serving the Xiaolin side and fighting for the cause of good. Indeed he once thought like Omi did. He once was so naive and foolish, blinded by faulty principles and teachings. Chase may have hated Hannibal Roy Bean, but he begrudgingly had to admit he was thankful that the red demon opened his eyes.

Hannibal was foolish too—many were on the Heylin side—but the Xiaolin were far more foolish. And they all lacked the vision that Chase had.

His true plan, the part that even Wuya is in the dark about, will take time. But in the end it will be worth it. Chase grinned just thinking of the end result, how perfect it will be. Soon the world will be as it should be.

His mind wandered back to the little bald monk. It was a true shame he had to resort to the methods he had used both in the past and recently in order to bring the boy to where he rightfully belongs. Omi would not be swayed so easily; therefore Chase had to resort to more drastic methods in order to bring him over to his side.

Omi was surprisingly more stubborn than Chase himself. He supposed it had to do with the boy's age; Omi was young and naive. But he knew the other major reason: those friends of his and the fact that he was raised as a Xiaolin warrior. The boy felt absolutely that he belonged on the Xiaolin side...belonged with that old man and his companions. He just needed to eliminate those elements that kept the boy rooted there.

Without those walls that keep the little monk from crossing the path to Chase's side, it will be easy to raise and teach his protégé in the ways of evil.

He heard light footsteps behind him and turned to see Wuya finally enter the room with a tiger behind her. She appeared in her usual attire, giving Chase a wave and a nervous chuckle; obviously aware she was caught for going against what he instructed her.

He waved his hand and his servant left. He then squarely looked at the redheaded witch, his face neutral. Wuya seemed to relax as the passing seconds of silence proved that Chase wasn't going to scold her for going off to nap somewhere else, instead of watching the two teenagers as part of her punishment for irritating him the other day when she kept interrupting his meditation.

"It is time we begin the first phase of my plan." Chase said.

He felt Wuya grip his left shoulder, an impish smile on her face.

"And what is the first phase?" Wuya asked in a singsong tone.

"Soon Wuya, you are about to feel the reveal of another Shen Gong Wu, I'd estimate within a few minutes. The Wu is not of importance to me, however...the other monks have returned early from their vacation so they will all be heading to retrieve it. You alone will go yourself. Hannibal Roy Bean will be watching in the distance." Chase started.

He felt Wuya shift a bit next to him, leaning forward slightly to look at him.

"You are to play the role of an actress. Drop hints to the monks that you are possibly trying to betray me again. Hannibal will then approach you later and try to strike up another alliance with you. You will play along that you will before returning back to me with the Wu you had won. I will then relay further instructions of our plan after such." The Heylin warrior instructed.

Wuya raised an eyebrow, a crooked smirk on her face.

"So you want me to pretend that I'm going to betray you, to the monks and Hannibal?" Wuya inquired, amusement in her tone.

"Correct, and it better be pretending Wuya—"

"Yes, yes I know. You know as well as I do that getting what I want is far more important to me. And with the promise you have given me, you ensured I wouldn't be a naughty girl again. I'll do my part." Wuya whispered in his ear.

He felt Wuya's fingernails of her right hand softly graze against his cheek as she grinned at him. He frowned and grabbed her hand, pulling it away as well as putting some space in between them. He was not in the mood for her games. He occasionally amused her, but right now was not going to be one of those moments. Distractions were absolutely out of the question right now, whether she liked it or not.

"Good." Chase stated simply, then added, "Now as for the details of the Xiaolin Showdown you'll be getting into shortly..."

* * *

They had been back for about a day now (Kimiko for two days). According to Kimiko, when she first returned to the temple, Omi was practically bouncing off the walls. Raimundo believed her easily because when he returned with Clay, they both were tackled to the ground with an enthusiastic hug from the little cheese-ball.

Apparently, Omi had really missed them (understatement). He knew Omi would, but he didn't expect the boy to miss them that much. Then again, Omi has been a little strange the past couple of months and after the recent news that he got from Kimiko, Raimundo hoped to get to the bottom of it.

But he wasn't sure how to approach Omi about it. He needed more information on the situation, but it was hard how to approach said situation because he also needed more information before he could properly approach Omi about it. So yeah, to say he was having a bit of a dilemma was putting it lightly.

This was Chase Young after all, who knew what lies the man was feeding Omi. Last time, Chase slipped his way into Omi's trust right under their noses. So of course thanks to the little arguments they had with Omi before the whole Yin Yang World incident...Omi was starting to waver in his trust with his friends, and sure enough Chase manipulated Omi. Planting little seeds of doubt and making Omi believe he could trust Chase. Naturally when Omi was tricked to go into the Yin Yang World and his chi was swapped, evil Omi was still Omi but he could have just been evil Omi. There was no allegiance to Chase, and Omi only went to him after turning evil  _because_ Chase planted those ideas in the kid's head that he could always trust him.

Raimundo did his best not to look mad as they were all doing their chores; he was currently washing the kitchen floors with Omi. He kept his face looking as if he was bored, hiding how he was internally seething.

It bothered him so much. Why Omi? As much as Raimundo would be really ticked if Chase tried it with Clay or Kimiko, a part of him felt slightly more miffed because it was Omi. Omi was just a little kid. Sure the kid had one annoying ego, was gullible as they came, did not seem to comprehend when you were teasing him sometimes, and also the fact that he screwed up slang and metaphors something awful. And yeah, Omi was arrogant, sometimes the kid was selfish...Omi could be a bit of a brat too, but he was still a little kid. He was so naive, trusting, loyal, forgiving—okay, so maybe he could say insensitive things, but Omi meant well. Omi was still very friendly and genuinely cares so much about his friends. He was honest—a little bit on the blunt and insensitive side at times, but still honest and genuine. Omi was...at his core, a friendly innocent child.

Raimundo couldn't help but think of his younger siblings and he realized why it bothered him so much. They were little kids...Omi was a little kid. That friendly, loyal, honest and cheerful kid; one that Chase Young decided he was going to corrupt. All those things that made Omi so admirable despite his flaws, all those things they all at the temple each loved about Omi, Chase Young didn't care about.

Chase would look at those endearing qualities and scoff at them. All he saw was just another tool he could use. He didn't care it was an innocent little child that he was trying to (and had at one point) corrupt. He didn't care that he used him and had Omi turn on the closest (and only) thing he has to a family. No, Chase probably would have found it amusing that he did that. Chase Young didn't care about Omi; Raimundo saw the way he looked at Omi. It was no different than the way Wuya looks at Shen Gong Wu.

Chase Young desired Omi's skills and powers as nothing more than a servant...it was greed, plain and simple. He saw a shiny new toy and decided he was going to take it, and that's all there was to it.

Omi's feelings didn't matter to him and neither did Omi's goals or future. All Chase Young cared about was himself. Omi was a means to an end, a weapon he could use against the world...Chase didn't see a child with hopes and dreams. Chase didn't care about those dreams or ambitions; he didn't care about Omi.

Raimundo knew if it was Clay or Kimiko that Chase was after, he would be just as angry. Clay was a best friend, and well...Kimiko was Kimiko. Raimundo scratched his head and forced himself to not blush when thinking about the Dragon of Fire. He shook his head and went back to his thoughts. Yes, he'd be very upset if Chase ever was after either of them the same way as he was after Omi. They were important to him.

But Omi...

The Shoku warrior sighed to himself as he continued to scrub a stain off the floor.

He supposed all those years of being an older brother clearly had an affect on him. He was starting to look at Omi no different than his own siblings. Omi was even the same age as his sister Cecilia. He remembered upon returning home for the Christmas holiday, it dawned on him how much his little sister Yarah and littlest brother Rico reminded him of Omi.

They were all friends at this temple and they became like a family. They were just as much Omi's family as they were his friends, and Raimundo refused to let Chase take Omi from them again.

"Raimundo, you have been most quiet today," Omi spoke up.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I guess I have a lot on my mind." Raimundo gave the round guy a small smile.

"Perhaps you should meditate! Your questions that are plaguing your head would most certainly be answered if you tried it, instead of falling asleep as usual." Omi side-eyed the teen.

Raimundo chuckled and grabbed Omi in a headlock. The boy kicked and complained at Raimundo's grip, demanding to be let go. He just grinned wider as he gave the bald boy a noogie.

"Here I am, the leader, and little Omi still thinks he can give me orders," Raimundo teased.

Omi finally managed to break out of Raimundo's grip. He hopped down, glared momentarily at Raimundo, but then calmed himself as he pointed up at Raimundo. The teen couldn't help but giggle because how serious Omi looked.

"Not orders, merely a valuable suggestion from the most experienced member of our team." Omi nodded.

"Right—got anymore brilliant suggestions?" Raimundo snickered.

Omi opened his mouth, but before the little guy could speak, Dojo (who was asleep on the counter) started trembling from head to tail before letting out a huge belch.

Omi winced and covered his mouth and nose (well his nose that was so tiny you could barely see it) while Raimundo plugged his nose with one hand and with the other waved the air in front of his face. Okay yeah, they were being over-dramatic about Dojo's bad breath, but would it kill the dragon to cover his mouth?

"Sheesh Dojo! What did you have for lunch? It smells worse than Master Fung's feet!" Raimundo complained.

"Dojo needs a mint for inhalation!" The bald boy scowled.

"That's breath mint, Omi. Dojo needs a breath mint." The teen sighed.

"That too." Omi nodded.

"Make jokes all you want," Dojo covered his mouth as a tiny burp came out, "But we got a Wu alert! The Dong-Wu Bian Bracelet just revealed itself!"

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Garreth-he is the black knight that we see amongst Chase's fallen warriors.
> 
> That's right, I'm going to give all of the fallen warriors we see so far names too because his fallen warriors fascinate me and I'd love to know more about them.
> 
> Also, did I just imply that there was possibly the frick-frack going on between Chase and Wuya? (evil smile) But of COURSE not ;)
> 
> It's funny, I originally didn't ship Chuya. Then after rewatching XS last summer, I started to notice the little subtle hints of attraction and UST between the two. After that I started to ship it for the lulz of it. A joke ship and nothing more. That doomed me. Never joke ship something ever. Because once you ship something for the lulz of it, that is the end for you. Your life will become consumed and eventually you'll start to OTP that joke ship like crazy. Doomed you shall be, DOOMED!
> 
> Okay, I love Wuya and Chase's dynamic though. Because they DON'T love each other. They're evil, so their relationship is naturally not going to be a loving one. It's going to be complicated, weird, interesting, and yet attractive. They just kind of fascinate me. (Okay, they fascinate me a lot but I digress)
> 
> Ah Dojo, you know I love how in Showdown any of his reactions were usually funny or quirky little things. They were never over the top gross, some were mildly gross, but any gross humor was not all in your face and over the top and nauseatingly gross (like Chronicles...uggh, sorry...it just bothers me but I promise to not rant about that show).
> 
> And of course a huge thanks I want to make a shout out to my beta editor, tumblr user just-absolutely-super.
> 
> Please leave a review and let me know what you think! And have a nice day!


	5. Here Comes The Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raimundo and Wuya have a Xiaolin Showdown! And Chase begins the next phase of his plan.

* * *

They were currently on the back of Dojo, flying over the Pacific Ocean. Raimundo nudged Omi to open up the scroll. The little monk complied while the others crowded behind him to see, watching as the lines swirled around before magically revealing the image of the Dong-Wu Bian Bracelet and how it's used.

"The Dong-Wu Bian Bracelet. It allows the user to turn its enemies into animal servants...but they have to call out the name of the animal they want to turn someone into and point the bracelet in the direction of that person." Dojo explained.

"Do you think we'll be seeing Chase and Wuya at all?" Kimiko asked.

"I do not think so. Chase Young would have no need for a Shen Gong Wu with such a power. He already has that ability without the aid of a Shen Gong Wu, so it would be most useless to him. Besides, he shows much disdain for the Wu...only going after them if it is of upmost necessity." Omi pointed out.

Raimundo frowned as he glanced back at Kimiko and Clay, the two mirroring his expression. It was plain to see they were all worried about Omi. Omi raised an eyebrow as he looked back at them, giving them a puzzled look.

"Is something the matter my friends?" The bald child asked.

Raimundo let out a sigh that was so quiet even he couldn't hear it. He kept his face neutral.

As the leader, he had Kimiko and Clay come to an agreement that they would not let Omi know they were onto his secret meetings with Chase just yet. They needed to be more careful at how they approached it and figure out more. They couldn't let another argument put a wedge between them and have a repeat like last year with the Ying Yang World incident. They weren't going to give Omi a reason to doubt them over their enemy. So they would subtly be there, reminding Omi they were his friends and the ones he could trust until they could fully get to the bottom of it. It wasn't going to be easy, Raimundo himself would like nothing more than to keep Omi in the temple while the rest of them storm Chase Young's lair and make certain an end was put to his scheming and using Omi permanently. But Chase Young was not an enemy you could charge headfirst. You had to be careful.

"It's nothing, we're just a bit worried because we haven't heard a peep out of those two in a while. Keeps us a bit on edge. I got this feeling they are up to something, but we'll worry about it when the time comes. You do have a point though, Omi. This isn't a Wu I could see Chase going after. But just because he's not interested, doesn't mean Wuya wouldn't be." Raimundo said.

"True, she has come after Wu in the past while Chase just waits on the sidelines." Kimiko nodded.

"She's quite the sneaky little outlaw too, you can't forget that. She's not one known for being loyal. That gal has betrayed before, she could do it again." Clay chimed in.

"Right, we shouldn't underestimate Wuya. But even if she and Chase aren't there, we can't forget Hannibal Roy Bean is out there too." Kimiko narrowed her eyes.

"Ha—he can try! We thwarted that lame vegetable's plot every single time in this past year. We even got back all the Shen Gong Wu he stole from us!" Raimundo grinned and then added, "Don't forget, even though we lost three Shen Gong Wu to him in a couple of Showdowns these past couple of months we also managed to get those Shen Gong Wu from him too! He's got nothing; no Wu, just his stupid bird and ugly mug."

"Be that as it may Raimundo...one must never let down their guard around Hannibal Roy Bean. Despite not having as many victories to show for his evil, one must never forget, this villain is one that even Chase Young is concerned about." Omi warned.

Raimundo frowned, he knew Omi was right. The bean might certainly not be as much of a concern to them as Chase and Wuya in comparison to the threats they faced...but still, the only reason they didn't have to worry as much is because so far they prevented him from succeeding. Anyone who makes  _Chase Young_  worried is not to be taken lightly.

Raimundo still couldn't help but wonder why Chase hasn't done anything yet. He supposed it was because Chase had to divide his time with multiple threats between themselves, Wuya when she betrayed him, and Hannibal.

The Shoku warrior was distracted from his thoughts when he heard Clay clear his throat from behind him.

"So partner, where did you and Grand Master Dashi hide the trinket?" The blond asked, raising his voice so he could be heard over the wind.

"Somewhere on Hawaii. I'm pretty sure we were on the beach, near a cave, on the south side of the island. Whoa—!"

Suddenly Dojo made a sharp turn, the four monks clinging tightly onto him and each other so they wouldn't go flying off from the sheer force.

"I can feel it, it's definitely on the south side of the island!" Dojo exclaimed.

Clay held tightly onto his hat and another hand tightly onto the dragon as he tried to hover his large body over the three; Kimiko clung tightly to Raimundo, while Raimundo held on tightly to Omi. Dojo was picking up speed, the wind whipping around them even harder as they all closed their eyes, tears flying off their faces.

"Dojo, you think you could slow it down just a  _might_?" The nervous cowboy asked.

"Sorry kids! We're getting closer, just hang on tight!" Dojo shouted as he made his descent.

The dragon slowed down a bit, just enough for the monks to catch their breath and wipe their eyes. Dojo began to shrink as the monks jumped onto the sand below.

Dojo landed on Clay's hat, his tail trembling, the dragon yanked on the hat and jabbed his finger to the left.

"It's definitely close! Somewhere in that direction!" The green reptile exclaimed.

"Let's get a move on guys!" Raimundo started to sprint ahead, motioning for the others to follow.

His three fellow warriors and Dojo were close behind him, Raimundo glancing back at Dojo, watching the dragon as he pointed each turn they needed to take on the beach.

"Look! There it is!" Clay exclaimed pointing up.

The golden bracelet was wedged in between a couple of boulders, in the middle of a cliff looking over the beach, a fraction of it sticking out from in between the two boulders.

"Well what do we have here?" They heard another voice to their right.

"Wuya!" They cried out in unison.

Raimundo narrowed his eyes, glaring at the witch. She had a smirk on her face, but returned the glare towards the Dragon of Wind. Raimundo created a blast of wind at the ground under his feet, propelling him forward. Wuya was already jumping on the rocks up to the Wu.

The bracelet glowed as the Heylin witch and the Xiaolin leader touched the object at the same time.

"Wuya, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown!" He glared.

"Very well Raimundo." Her smile grew wider.

"I wager the Eye of Dashi."

"And I will wager the Ruby of Ramses."

Raimundo's eyes widened. He remembered when he came back from home, that on top of finding out the Sphere of Yun had been stolen that night after Kimiko came back first before either him or Clay, the Ruby of Ramses went missing too.

"Well...I wonder who has been in our vault recently." Raimundo glared harder at her.

"Oh I'm sorry, was this yours? I was just out shopping." Wuya said in mock innocence while batting her eyelashes.

But Raimundo's anger diminished, his expression now changed to one of suspicion. If Wuya stole the Sphere of Yun also, then...why? Why would she only steal one Shen Gong Wu one night then only one another? Wuya was greedy and coveted all the Shen Gong Wu, why didn't she rob them clean?

That witch was definitely up to something, but what?

"Anyways, since you challenged me, Raimundo—would you like to name the game?" Wuya asked with a cocky smile.

Raimundo looked out to the ocean, an idea formed in his mind.

"The game is surfing. We have to last one minute in a storm. If you fall off your board, you lose." Raimundo smirked.

Surfing was one of his talents, and the thrill of a challenge like a storm was a bit on the enticing side. Plus, with his wind abilities he was sure he could survive a storm on a board for a minute as well. He was confident that with those elements in play, he could beat her.

"Fine by me Raimundo." She matched his smirk.

"Let's go! Xiaolin Showdown!" Raimundo shouted.

The landscape dramatically began to change. Most of the island disappeared. Kimiko, Omi and Clay now all in their Showdown attire—the three and Dojo were on a small tiny island that was raised several meters above the ocean. Raimundo and Wuya were sitting on two boards that magically appeared on top of the water.

A huge timer, about the size of a blimp, with a minute for a countdown appeared in the sky. The countdown was frozen, as storm clouds appeared out of thin air. Rain began to pour down on them, wind started to howl and whip around them rapidly, thunder and lightning in the distance. The tides started to rise as Raimundo and Wuya glared at each other and began to paddle towards a huge wave before getting themselves into position.

"Gong yi tanpai!" They both shouted.

The timer began its one-minute countdown.

Raimundo could hear his friends cheering him on despite the wind and the thunder and the rain, although just barely.

Raimundo cried out the name of the Eye of Dashi Wu, pointing it at Wuya, the lightning heading for her. However, Raimundo witnessed her cry out the name of the Ruby of Ramses and aimed it at her surf board—letting her float above the blast—before setting herself back onto the wave with ease. It wasn't easy to see thanks to the rain, but he could still see Wuya and witness her give him a cocky smile before surfing herself away from him.

Raimundo felt himself become really bothered and a suspicious feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. Wuya called out her Shen Gong Wu a second before he did. How did she know he was going to use the Eye of Dashi immediately and come up with a plan right off the bat how to counter it? If he was facing someone like Chase, he could see why...even Omi with that whole tiger instinct thing he boasts about, but Wuya wasn't a person who could predict people's moves the way Chase does.

No...Raimundo had a feeling somehow she knew.

 _"What are you up to Wuya?"_  He thought as he grit his teeth.

He shot a couple of more fires of lightning and Wuya repeated her previous counter by using her Wu to avoid it. He needed a different approach, to catch her off guard.

Raimundo followed after her, Wuya currently not looking at him, before he thought of a plan and couldn't help but grin. He maneuvered his board as he pushed himself around the wave Wuya was currently riding. He was going to sneak up on her right, straight through the wave.

The clock was still counting down, now at twenty-four seconds. It was now or never.

"Typhoon Boom, Wind!" Raimundo cried out, creating a blast of wind that cut through the wave.

Raimundo's eyes widened as he realized Wuya wasn't there.

"Where are you looking, Raimundo?" He heard her voice behind him.

"Oh shoot!" Raimundo whipped his head to look behind him, before dread gripped at him as he screamed into his thoughts,  _"When did she get there?!"_

"Ruby of Ramses!"

She aimed for his board, pulling it out right from under him.

His face crashed into the salty water, his body bouncing three times before submerging under. The timer froze at sixteen seconds. The Showdown finished, the area around them beginning to shift back to their normal reality.

Raimundo and the monks returned back into their normal attire they wore; everyone now magically dry, not a speck of water on them. Wuya smirked as she held onto the Ruby of Ramses plus the two Wu she won.

Raimundo grit his teeth, ignoring his friends who were running to him.

"What are you up to Wuya?" He demanded.

She just eyed him with a thin smile, "What ever do you mean?"

Wuya somehow knew what Raimundo was going to do before he did it. He was positive of that. And evidence was obviously pointing to her being their thief, but it didn't make sense for someone like her to only steal so few of the Wu.

"You only steal one Wu from us and you go after this one after not going after the rest in a while, ring any bells?" He stared up at her with contempt.

"Is Chase Young aware of your recent activities, Wuya?" Omi crossed his arms.

Her thin smile grew, a more malicious look in her eyes as she leaned down towards Omi. The Heylin witch grabbed his cheek and pinched it hard.

"What I do isn't really much of  _his_  concern right now. I'm just a simple lady with simple goals."

Omi batted her hand away; rubbing his red cheek that Wuya pinched so hard she left finger impressions on his skin. Raimundo pushed himself in front of Omi, glaring up at the witch.

"And what might those goals be?" Kimiko spat.

"Oh, that's my little secret. But don't worry, you'll all find out soon enough." She chuckled.

Wuya summoned up a puff of smoke and vanished. The monks all looked at each other, a serious expression all on their faces. Unbeknownst to them, a familiar bird was perched in the tree, with a tiny red creature sitting on top, watching them all before taking off.

* * *

Wuya waited on the side of a mountain that was a few miles away from the Xiaolin Temple. She looked down and glanced over at it, the smirk never leaving her face even as she watched the dragon and the four brats return.

Any minute now...

"Hello there Wuya, fancy meeting you here." She heard above her.

Her smirk curled further; right on cue.

"Hannibal, have you been spying on me?" She turned around, hands on her hips.

She looked up at the bean who was sitting on his precious pet, flapping above her.

"Of course not, I was just following the Xiaolin monks hoping to get another Wu, and then I spied you. I decided to step back and let you have a crack at them. That was quite the impressive Showdown." the small demon flashed his ugly teeth as he grinned.

"Thank you—but come now Hannibal, you aren't here to make small talk." Wuya raised a brow, a crooked smirk on her face.

"Right to the point I see...very well," Roy Bean chuckled, then said, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the children. Wuya, I can't help but feel you are up to your old tricks."

"Maybe I am...what's it to you?" She raised both her brows this time.

Just like Chase said; Wuya couldn't help but find this all amusing. She supposed she was grateful that her daughter was finally proving of use after all, granted she had no choice to help them what being trapped in the Sphere of Yun. But still, all was transpiring so far exactly like Chase said it would.

"Wuya, I can't help but pity your situation and feel partially responsible. You would still be all-powerful if it wasn't for...a mutual acquaintance." The red demon spoke, "And I helped create our common menace. But I would be more than happy to correct such a misdeed by assisting you in dealing with him."

Wuya bit back another smirk. Instead she scoffed and acted as if she didn't care.

"Another alliance with you? Please..."

"Hold on now, just hear what I have to say before you decide little lady."

She turned away, looking back at the temple, then back at the bean. She gave him a skeptical look, but morphed her expression to someone who was interested.

The bean was cunning, but just like fifteen hundred years ago he would have to face his worst mistake. Yes, he was quite cunning and knew how to manipulate and play people well, but he didn't notice he created his own biggest threat. Converting Chase to the dark side only proved to make things worse for him. And once again, Chase was going to pull another wool over his eyes. By the time the demon would realize it, it will be too late.

"Alright, let's pretend I'm interested, Hannibal..."

* * *

There was a long discussion with Master Fung about the recent events. Everyone back and forth exchanged theories on what Wuya could be up to. But everyone was still puzzled when Raimundo told them about how Wuya seemed to know what he was going to do before doing it. They weren't sure how she could know such a thing.

Master Fung ordered them all to go meditate on their thoughts, then finish up the night with chores.

Clay was meditating in their room, it seemed Kimiko was meditating by the vault, and Raimundo was in the garden, under a tree. Omi snuck by as quietly as possible, making sure not to disturb Raimundo's meditating (which he was actually doing for once instead of sleeping, but Raimundo seemed very disturbed about his Showdown with Wuya so it was plain to see he was taking this seriously). Omi was grateful he was unnoticed, as he did not want to interrupt as something as important as meditating.

He shook his head as he made his way off the temple grounds. He didn't venture too far, as there was a lake nearby that Omi remembered he always loved coming to as a child.

He figured he could meditate there. The familiar single tree came into view, the little monk smiling as he ran forward. He turned himself upside down, resting his back against the tree, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

So many things have swirled around his thoughts lately, Wuya's treachery now being added among the list of things on top of the reoccurring nightmares. They weren't always the same. Sometimes it was about Chase sacrificing himself to the darkness for him and his friends. Sometimes it was watching his friends be...

Omi face tightened as he winced, wishing to erase that memory.

Yes, he was thankful he hadn't woken up his friends once thanks to his nightmares. He didn't want to trouble them. Besides, he wasn't sure how to tell them anyway. They could barely remember the alternate timeline where Chase was their friend and teacher and Master Monk Guan was the one who turned evil. They had no memory at all of the other timeline where Jack Spicer had successfully taken over the world. Omi couldn't help but feel slightly bitter. Both timelines were his own fault yes...but why couldn't his friends remember any of it too?

His thoughts came back to the nightmare he had a couple of nights ago, one that was unlike any of his other nightmares (which just kept playing back his memories of those alternate timelines). He refused to give up on Chase. Not after the sacrifice Chase made for them in one of the timelines. Not after remembering what they had been through together. He remembered the man he once was, he was a good man. He refused to let that light fully die out.

When Raimundo betrayed them, Omi had not given up hope in his heart that Raimundo was truly good inside, that Raimundo would come back to them. When Omi was tricked into being evil and serving Chase, his friends had not given up on him. They saved him from that darkness and that life. Omi was going to repeat the sentiments. He wasn't sure how, but he was determined to save Chase from himself.

Omi knew Chase was his enemy, but he couldn't let go the feelings of that other timeline. Even before that...he still felt it was an endeavor worth pursuing. His instincts told him that there was still good inside him, that the evil had not worn it all away. He was an honorable warrior...he was chosen to become a Xiaolin Dragon long ago. Omi believed in his heart Chase didn't belong on the Heylin side.

So that left Omi with thoughts about what was currently happening. Should he warn Chase that Wuya was up to something? His friends would probably vote against that action. Which would mean that Omi would have to warn Chase in secret. That made Omi sigh; he didn't like keeping things from his friends.

And he was certainly keeping a lot from them recently.

Omi needed to pull himself away from these thoughts. He was defeating the purpose of meditating by mulling over all these stressful thoughts. He took another deep breath and let the gentle breeze wash over him. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he let himself relax as he felt the sun's rays beat down on him.

It was a bit chilly, but not too chilly. The air felt somewhere in between winter and spring temperatures.

"It seems we have more in common than I realized."

Omi shot his eyes open and jumped up, startled. The boy ungracefully landed on his back, looking up at none other than Chase Young.

"Chase Young? I—what do you mean?" Omi asked.

"When I trained under Dashi I often used to come to this area myself long ago. It was my favorite spot to meditate. Though the lake was much bigger back then, while this tree wasn't around." Chase spoke as he bent down slightly, extending a hand to the boy still on the ground.

Omi took the hand and was pulled back up to his feet, not taking his eyes off his unexpected guest.

Still...Omi didn't like what was leveled at him.

"There most certainly is not common things between you and I." He shook his head in denial.

Chase just chuckled and pat the boy on the head.

"We're both determined to be the best, highly skilled warriors, as well as ambitious and honorable. We are also both members of teams who seemed to look down on their youngest members." Chase stated simply, but his lips curled into a frown at that last part.

"My friends do not look down on me." Omi glared.

If Chase was going to play his old games, Omi refused to let him drag his friends through the mud. He could say whatever he wanted about Omi, but he refused to have Chase make any accusation against his friends. Despite the respect he held for the man and an almost begrudging trust for him as well, he would not tolerate Chase speaking such disrespect about his friends when they are not around to defend themselves.

Chase normally didn't put down Omi's friends when it was just the two of them having discussions, he knew that was a topic that Omi would get very defensive about. But he has done so in the past, and Omi would rather if the man was going to do it, he do it in the presence of his friends and not behind their backs (not that he wanted him to speak disrespect about his friends in the first place, but he knew it was something that was unavoidable).

"Keep telling yourself that if it comforts you, young monk. If you wish to remain in your friend's shadow instead of rising above to become the best warrior as I know you desire, then so be it." Chase added crisply.

Omi frowned harder. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with the parallels Chase was leveling at him, talking as if their lives mirror one another. Most obviously because where Chase has ended up.

"I made several mistakes and was not ready to rise to the next level. Raimundo however...has proven himself. He earned that title and the position of leader. I may have been disappointed and jealous...but that does not change the fact he deserves it. I am pleased for my friend. A true warrior knows when to admit that there is someone more qualified than themselves. And as his friend I am most proud." Omi said with more conviction.

Chase just stared at him, his face neutral, not giving away a hint of emotion. The man let a breath of air escape through his nostrils as he crossed his arms, looking out at the lake instead of Omi.

"You are as predictable as ever." The Heylin warrior said.

Omi frowned further. Normally their meetings are far more civil than this in the recent months. He let out a sigh and allowed the tension to escape his shoulders and back, calming himself down. He was letting himself get distracted from the real matter.

"Why are you here?" Omi asked.

* * *

Lying was something that Chase wasn't a stranger to. He was well practiced at spinning false truths, manipulating those around him and facilitating deception.

He couldn't help but admit that, as strange as it sounded, a part of him wasn't so pleased that he had to resort to methods he was all too familiar with when it came to Omi. Perhaps it was because he wished Omi would come more willingly and he wouldn't have to resort to such drastic measures and schemes, but it didn't matter.

He had a goal he was set on, and he would see it through. He was meant to rule the world and Omi would join him. Whether Omi liked it or not, he was a kindred spirit. His place should be at Chase's side, learning from him and following his example.

"Another Shen Gong Wu was revealed today...wasn't it?" He asked.

Of course it was, the Prince of Darkness obviously knew. Just as he knew the truth verses the other lies he would spin in order to set another phase of his plan in motion.

"Yes! Wuya appeared and challenged Raimundo to a Showdown, which she now has three. One of them she most certainly stole from us. I suspect she stole the Sphere of Yun as well. I suppose that means she actually has four Wu that she most definitely did not tell you about, correct?" Omi glared into the distance.

Chase let out a sigh, giving off the appearance of a man slightly annoyed.

"So she's up to her usual treachery it would seem." Chase said evenly.

There was a pause. For a couple of seconds all that was heard in their silence was the breeze.

Omi finally broke the silence.

"I am sorry."

Chase raised a brow as he glanced back down at the bald child. Yes, he foresaw everything this conversation would entail, but Wuya wasn't the only one who had to play the role of actor today.

"And what are you sorry for?"

Omi lightly kicked the grass at his feet.

"I have a feeling in my organs that Wuya is plotting to betray you again. I may not approve your actions, but still...I am sorry that she would continue to do such things." Omi answered.

Chase didn't correct Omi on how it was supposed to be  _"gut feeling,"_  not  _"feeling in my organs."_ He smirked and pat the boy on the head again.

"You are quite an odd Xiaolin Dragon, apologizing to his enemy and feeling sympathy for their sake." The immortal said.

"We were not always enemies." Omi mumbled.

"True, at one time I was the one who took the place of Guan and Fung in the lives of you and your friends."

Chase fought back a smirk from appearing on his face, give no hint of satisfaction when Omi reacted as expected. The boy snapped his head up at the immortal warrior, shock and even relief on his face.

"You too remember?" Omi asked tentatively.

"Indeed, but we can discuss those events later. I had a feeling about Wuya's treachery, and I believe I know what she's up to." Chase nodded.

Omi had a crooked frown on his face; disappointed, as he obviously wanted to talk about the memories of the other timeline. But the boy nodded despite his feelings.

"So what are you going to do?" The child inquired.

"I will need to look into it more. By tomorrow I believe I'll know everything I need to know on how to counteract what lies ahead. However, I will need your help." Chase replied.

"My help?" Omi blinked.

"I need a warrior strong enough to watch my back and assist me with such a serious problem...someone I can trust. Someone who is willing to set aside good and evil for a mutual benefit."

All you had to do was play to Omi's ego, and his need to want to save Chase from the darkness in his heart. While it was true he did trust Omi, letting the boy know that only played to the boy's weakness. Omi of course was far too trusting and naive. Believing this could be an opportunity somehow to prove to Chase he belongs on the side of good. Revealing the knowledge of the other timeline will also play into that.

"I...hmm..." Omi looked at the ground for a minute, debating it over.

His little hands balled into two tight fists before he finally glanced up, determination in his eyes.

"Very well, I will aid you Chase Young."

The warrior bit back another smirk, instead nodded as a response.

"Meet me in two days, at midnight—in this same spot. Then we will be able to take care of it. The scheming will be put to an end, then and there."

Despite some of his lies, Chase was also sprinkling some truths into several of his words...truths that could easily be spun in a different way from a certain point of view.

"Agreed."

He bowed and Omi repeated the motion, bidding each other a silent farewell. The boy aimed to run back to his temple, Chase watching him disappear over the hill. A grin formed on his face; everything was falling into place as expected.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so since Raimundo is the leader, I imagine his Showdown attire would basically look similar to the blue ones, except new colors to match his leader robes.
> 
> Something like this:
> 
> sassiejaeger.tumblr.com/post/67207040752/guess-ill-post-this-one-since-for-some-reason-a
> 
> Wuya is freaking awesome and I enjoy writing her way too much!
> 
> Special thanks, once again, to my beta editor, just-absolutely-super, you are awesome darling!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please leave a review! Til next time!


	6. Forced Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase next phase into his plan beings! Also briefly checking back in with Jack and Yun, still trapped in her Shen Gong Wu namesake. Tensions begin to arise between the monks, and an intense face off between Hannibal Roy Bean and Chase Young!

* * *

A day has passed since his conversation with the littlest monk...his time to deal with Hannibal Roy Bean was now. The first phase of the Heylin warrior's plan being set into motion.

The monks were currently out and about. About three new Shen Gong Wu will be revealed today, Wuya already sensed one. However, she didn't go fetch anything. No, she had other things she was to take care of.

He walked up the familiar steps of the temple; the serene atmosphere of the area was almost enough to make him nostalgic. Almost...if it wasn't for the fact that he hated this place. What Omi considers home and a place of refuge, Chase couldn't feel more different about this place. He glared in disgust at the memories that tried to play out in his head, pushing them to the back of his mind.

It didn't take long for him to become noticed. The old man glared at him with distrust.

"Chase Young, what are you doing here?" Fung managed to ask politely despite his expression.

"I am looking for Wuya." Chase stated simply.

Fung paused, confusion was hidden in his eyes but the suspicion had not left.

"Why would you expect to find her here?" The old man questioned.

Fung stumbled, as did Chase, when an explosion went off. Chase masked his features under his normal aloof expression, but he was pleased that Wuya was proceeding exactly as planned.

"Lucky guess." Chase added dryly as they looked to see smoke rise from one of the buildings.

"The Shen Gong Wu vault!"

Fung paid no more heed to the Heylin warrior. He dashed ahead to see to the problem at hand. Chase needed to keep the suspicion up that Wuya was trying to betray him, hence why he was there: to keep suspicion on Wuya and off of him. She played her part, as did he. The monks will continue to believe she is up to something and attempting to betray him. When the children return, Fung will tell them what had transpired.

Wuya will have grabbed what he told her was needed then meet up with Hannibal, which is where he will need to be. So he left to find them both, where they will be waiting.

* * *

"Now explain this game one more time, Best Friend Jack?" Yun asked.

He rolled his eyes. He gave up on telling her to stop calling him that, she didn't seem to listen. She thankfully dropped the "Best Friend Spicer" and stuck with her original title for him. It was annoying but he put up with it because he honestly stopped caring. The girl wouldn't listen, so what was the point? She'll just keep smiling all happy as can be and address him like that. So he gave up.

Currently—as the two teenagers were trapped in the Sphere of Yun—to pass time, Jack decided they needed to do something to entertain themselves. So he began teaching her a couple of games. Luckily he had a deck of cards in his jacket. (He wasn't sure why he had them there though, and he didn't even remember putting them in there.) Meanwhile, a few of Chase's jungle cats were hanging around in the room, keeping a close watch on the two.

Yun was annoyingly a natural at quite a few of the card games that he taught her so far. He eventually gave up on "Old Maid," sick of losing to that one. Although thankfully she wasn't so much of a natural earlier when they played "Five Crowns." Their score was close, Yun barely beating him (but only just barely). He then decided to teach her "Go Fish" next.

He started explaining her the rules to "Go Fish." She smiled and nodded, but asked a couple of questions. He would correct her and give her a couple of examples. She seemed satisfied as her smile grew and she nodded her head excitedly as she understood, far too eager to play the new game. (But everything about her was weirdly way too happy for his tastes.) He shuffled the cards and started to deal.

"You got any fours?" Jack said in a completely bored tone.

"Nah-ah," Yun shook her head.

"No no no! You're supposed to say,  _"go fish!"_ That's why the game is called that you know!" Jack huffed.

"Forgive me, Best Friend Jack! Allow me to correct my previous statement," she then cleared her throat and smiled, "No—go fish!"

He rolled his eyes and drew a card, placing it in his hand. He let out a heavy sigh as Yun then asked if he had any sevens. He didn't so she drew a card herself. He was so bored (and still a bit annoyed).

Just how long did Chase and Wuya plan on keeping them in there? It was obvious they had some big plan cooking up; it was probably a really awesome evil plan too. He just wished he could have been a part of that, instead of trapped in this stupid sphere like a dumb bird in a cage. Not like it mattered, they'd never let him be a part of their awesome evil plan anyways.

It wasn't like he was going to expect his parents to freak out either. They both were always very busy, and even if they weren't...his dad was a man who made a living off selling things to the black market. His mother made her living by being a lawyer who helped cover the tracks of several criminals around the world and keep them out of jail. (She was half the reason his father was never able to find jail time either; she was quite good at her job.) They weren't strangers to the world of evil either. All Wuya or Chase had to do was send them a message saying that Jack was probably staying with them to help them with evil conquest or whatever. They wouldn't make a fuss even though he was grounded if that came up.

After going back and forth, Yun managing to take quite a couple of cards from him, Jack let out another sigh. He quirked his eyebrow as he looking at the weirdo in front of him. He was stuck with her, so he might as well figure out more about her. She was dead set on wanting to be his friend anyway, so he may as well ask her a bit more.

"So what is your story?" He ignored that it was supposed to be his turn.

"What do you mean? Did I not already tell you my history when we met?" Yun blinked quizzically at him.

"You only told me a bit of it so out with it sister—I seriously want to know how, what is supposed to be an evil creation of Wuya's, didn't turn out evil." Jack placed the cards in his hand to his right.

There was a bit of silence, but any reaction he expected to have from her didn't happen. She didn't tense up, get stressed out, try to change the subject, get defensive or have some sob story while crying like a dweeb. No, she just blinked and looked at her lap, as if she was deep in thought.

"That is quite the good question my friend...but truth to be told I am very unsure of it myself." She finally answered.

Jack blinked and stared at her incredulously.

"You don't have a clue, at all?" He raised a brow.

She just shrugged and placed the cards in her hands to her left.

"I do not have many memories when I was first created. Most of it is a blur...and kind of fuzzy. I can see some small glimpses and images, but it is quite...hard to describe. I suppose you could say the sensation is like...like those memories are shrouded in a fog and I can only see vague, tiny pieces of it." She began to explain.

He slouched against the wall of the sphere behind him, scratching an itch on his right elbow but continued to listen.

"I didn't have feelings or conscious thought back then..." She trailed off.

Jack raised only a single brow again as his lips curled into a crooked frown, perplexed.

"What the heck does that mean?" He scratched his forehead.

Yun twiddled her thumbs, her hands resting in her lap. She looked up at Jack, to her hands, then back up at him again as she paused. She looked a bit unsure herself as to what she was trying to explain.

"As I said, it is quite hard to describe. I myself find it truly puzzling—it is hard to grasp it. I do not have much recollection of that time as I stated. But as hard as it truly is to comprehend...from what I can gather at that time...I could not feel—have emotions the way you can Jack. I could not think for myself. I could not truly remember many things, which is probably why my memory of that short time after my creation is very limited. I was basically a blank slate...Grand Master Dashi referred to me basically being a walking, talking doll." Yun explained.

Jack lightly shook his head then slightly tilted it, as he scratched behind his right ear. His lower lip curled, hung out like a fish as he started at Yun completely in disbelief but also puzzled.

"Wait, so you're saying that you couldn't feel any kind of emotions and couldn't think for yourself—at all?" The redheaded boy asked.

The girl nodded then took a deep breath through her nose, letting out a sigh.

"The only conscious thought I can vaguely remember is that I must serve my mother. I must do everything to the best of my abilities to serve her," Yun said, then added after a pause, "But then...something changed."

Jack scratched his left elbow this time as he blinked at Yun with more confusion in his face. Especially because she had this wistful look in her eye as she tilted her head up to stare at the ceiling.

"One day...the fog that clouded all my being, it just...disappeared. Best Friend Jack, try to imagine what it must be like for one of your robots, all they do is follow what you call programming. That is all there is, the programming, nothing else. Then one day...you suddenly start to become more sentient and self-aware. All in a split moment!" Yun's eyes widened as she continued to stare at the ceiling.

Jack leaned back a bit more as he felt both his eyebrows rise. He had a hard time imagining what it would be like for that to happen to one of his robots. But from the way she described it...

"That sounds pretty freaky if you ask me." Jack said.

Yun turned her attention away from the ceiling and back to him, a small smile on her face.

"It was indeed as you say,  _freaky._  I could feel myself think, actually feeling confusion. I felt lost. I felt curious. I wasn't sure how to comprehend all the things I was feeling or thinking. But apparently Grand Master Dashi had something to do with it." She said with an even bigger smile.

Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose and waited for her to continue.

"I don't fully understand what he did...but he allowed me the chance to choose what I wanted to do. And all I cared about in that moment was wanting to help the person who gave me my new found freedom. By watching him from afar, I saw him fight evil and help people. The more I observed Grand Master Dashi, the more I wanted to be like him. The more good I wanted to do. The more I wanted to help make people smile and use my powers to benefit more than just my mother. I wanted to understand more about my powers and myself. Grand Master Dashi was the one who was willing to help me and guide me. I owe him everything." Yun closed her eyes, a softer smile on her face.

Jack licked his dry lips, not really sure what to say.

"I suppose that was also why I clung onto any of the random visions I had about you. Even though you and I are so different Best Friend Jack...I still felt a kindred spirit from you within those visions. I felt like you too were lost and just wanted to discover who you are and what you could do. I felt like, maybe through getting to know each other and becoming best friends, we shall discover our answers together." She said with upmost sincerity.

Jack snatched the four cards sitting at his side as he grumbled, annoyance on his face again.

"Enough of this stupid mumbo jumbo talk, let's just get back to this game."

* * *

The four young Xiaolin warriors were riding on Dojo's back as they flew over a rain forest they were currently leaving. The wind whipped around them, Kimiko holding her hair back to keep her bangs out of her eyes. Clay held onto his hat as usual so it wouldn't fly off his head. Omi crouched down behind Raimundo to block the wind out of his eyes. Raimundo just stared at the back of Dojo's head, mostly silent the whole ride.

"Okay, this is definitely weird. So far we retrieved two Shen Gong Wu. No sign of Jack, Wuya, Hannibal or even Chase." Kimiko said with concern.

"Something foul is definitely going on little missy." Clay nodded in agreement.

Raimundo took a deep breath as he was still gathering his thoughts.

"I did some thinking. Perhaps after we round up any other Wu, we head to Spicer's residence." Raimundo spoke up.

"Jack Spicer's? Why Raimundo?" Omi inquired.

"Well, if Wuya is up to something, I want to be able to spy on her. The only way we could do that successfully without being caught is if we had either Manchurian Musca, the Changing Chopsticks, or the Shroud of Shadows," Raimundo explained, "Don't forget, Jack did win a Showdown a month ago and got the Changing Chopsticks."

"Yes and he won the Manchurian Musca and the Shroud of Shadows— _surprisingly—_ three months ago," Kimiko reminded.

Omi scowled, "It most certainly is not my fault me and Clay were feeling sick during the Showdown Trio and lost!"

Kimiko pat Omi on the head.

"Relax Omi, don't forget we all were sick because of Jack," Kimiko said.

Raimundo grimaced at that memory. They were all in California looking for a Wu, but they all were so hungry they decided to stop at a restaurant. Jack was following them, so he snuck into the kitchen and made sure they all ate food that was way passed the expiration date. He disguised himself as one of the cooks. They had the most miserable three days after that. Three miserable days with multiple trips to the bathroom.

They had indeed won every Showdown so far since his rise to leader...practically. There were a few here and there they lost, but those were minor setbacks as they always managed to get things turned around. But Jack still had those three Wu from them. They didn't fuss as much over Jack as they did with Hannibal. Jack wasn't nearly close to a threat like the bean, so they actively kept most of their focus on keeping Hannibal Roy Bean from having victories.

"Right, so I was thinking we could either swoop in and steal the Wu or something like that. Then we can go spy on Chase and Wuya, get to the bottom of it all." Raimundo nodded.

"You mean spy on Wuya mostly, right? I mean is it not circulating events that the one who has been up to underhanded trickeries is Wuya?" Omi asked from behind him.

Raimundo gave a heavy frown but didn't look back at Omi. He took a deep breath through his nostrils to relax, as he did not wish to get impatient with their youngest member. Especially because of what was going on.

"That's current events...and even if Wuya is the one who has been obviously scheming, I still think it would be a wise policy to keep your eyes on all your enemies, not focus on just one." Raimundo stated in a calm tone.

It would seem Omi wasn't buying it though.

"Is that why of recent we mostly focused on Hannibal Roy Bean and hardly on Jack Spicer...or only give slight attention to Wuya and Chase Young but still keep most focus on Hannibal Roy Bean?" Omi questioned.

Raimundo could feel himself want to lose his patience at that comment, but he bit back the snappy remark he was about to make.

"Look, Wuya is definitely up to something and is probably plotting against Chase again—but that doesn't mean I will let my guard down around Chase. I may have been lenient about it in the past...which I shouldn't, the only reason I was is because they both have stayed out of our way. I  _don't trust_  Chase Young, so I'm going to keep an eye on him too." Raimundo said seriously.

Omi frowned but didn't say anything further. Raimundo could feel he was tense though, even though he wasn't looking at him.

He was thankful that Dojo began to shiver violently, exclaiming a third Shen Gong Wu was revealed. It was a welcome distraction.

* * *

Chase was currently standing by a river, lush plants all around the hills that surrounded him. A few trees here and there, but not too many for it to be considered a forest.

"Fusa, continue to monitor the temple as you have. Wait there until I recall you." He ordered to the tiger at his left.

With a snap of his finger, she transformed back into her human form, the ninja bowing to him before taking her leave. He then looked to the other jungle cats with him. There were five others: two were tigers, two were panthers, and one was a lion.

"The rest of you fan out. You know what to do." He commanded.

The cats bowed their head and all split up in opposite directions. And just like Chase had seen in the vision during meditation...this was no different. He bit back a smile appearing on his face when he heard a familiar dark and ugly chuckle coming from the branches in the tree above him.

"Looking for someone old friend?" Hannibal Roy Bean asked smoothly.

Chase turned to look up to see the bean sitting on top of his little pet bird's head, as Ying Ying was perched in the tree.

"I fail to see how that is any of your business." Chase said civilly, but his tone was lined with thinly veiled anger.

Appearances had to be kept up after all.

Another chuckle came from the small red demon as he shook his head and grinned.

"Poor Chase, all that ambition and yet it will end up being for naught. Your place will just get snatched from under you, just as it always has...right?" Hannibal mocked.

The Heylin warrior's eyes narrowed while the tiny demon's ugly smile only grew wider.

Chase then noticed the bean pull out a familiar Shen Gong Wu.

"Moby Morpher!"

Chase glared in disgust as he watched Hannibal Roy Bean morph himself into Master Monk Guan.

"What's the matter Chase, you don't look so happy to see your best friend." He mocked, replicating Guan's voice.

"Are you here to irritate me all day or are you here to fight?" Chase spat.

Typical of Hannibal Roy Bean, he was mocking Chase by doing this. He relished in getting under the skin of others. Not too mention he was doing this in hopes to rub it in of what he had done should he win.

"So impatient my old friend." He said with mock disappointment.

So he began to trade blows with Hannibal-Guan, but he was nothing compared to the real deal. He could take on the image of the old friend he despised...but he can't replicate all of Guan's skills.

They threw several punches and kicks while blocking and dodging each of the attacks they would deal to each other. Chase just barely dodged a high kick to his face. He flipped backwards, away from the demon, and glared as their fight came to a momentary halt.

"Curious how you got that little trinket back. I distinctly remember the monks winning that one from you months ago." Chase said with a bitter smile.

Though he of course knew why. He had Wuya steal it and two other Shen Gong Wu from the vault just a couple of hours ago. Hannibal asked if she could steal it from the monks, and in exchange he will help her with her _"Chase problem."_  But he probably wasn't expecting Chase to know all of that and was playing him for the fool that he was.

"Indeed, it was quite the gift from a friend," The Guan replica laughed, but then he pulled up his two arms again, "I don't think this form is poetic enough. No, when I defeat you...it should be something far more suitable for this occasion. Moby Morpher!"

Chase glared as he watched the demon change his form to Grand Master Dashi.

"And why would this form be so much more poetic?" Chase asked under a lower tone.

"So glad you asked my friend. Come on Chase," Hannibal said using Dashi's voice, his tone relaxed, "If there was anyone I understood better than myself, it would be you."

He vanished from sight. Chase glanced around, barely dodging a punch to his face, only to be kneed into his abdomen. He growled as he was thrown over Hannibal-Dashi's shoulder and into a tree.

Not yet...now wasn't the time to spring his trap yet. He had to keep going with the charade.

He grabbed the tree he crashed into, pulling it out of the ground, the roots ripping through the dirt. He swung it around to hit Hannibal, only for the Dashi replica to jump up and run on the tree Chase held, kicking Chase in the face, which caused him to drop the tree in the process. Hannibal then kicked the tree with his other foot, instantly slicing it in half. The demon laughed through Dashi's voice as he stood there, staring down at Chase in the dirt.

"Oh, it was easy to make you turn because of your jealousy against Guan. Just a few of the right words and that was all that was needed to make you fester in your bitterness and turn to the ancient potion of the dragons. You didn't hide your jealousy or bitterness against your friend Guan that well...and that made it you simple prey." He started.

The Dashi replica licked his lips as he picked Chase up by his feet and swung him around, crashing him into other trees and bushes before releasing him. Chase was then flung into the air before crashing into pebbles and dirt. Chase spat out some of the dirt from his mouth after he wiped his lips.

"But there are things that even you keep from yourself. Your growing resentment of Guan was not one of them...no...but your growing resentment for Dashi was something you kept so buried deep down, that you didn't even realize you couldn't stand him until I educated you on which side you really belonged." He laughed.

Chase flipped backwards and grabbed a couple of boulders, tossing them at the demon. Hannibal of course was dodging each of them. Chase just continued to grab any large boulder by the river and tossed them at Hannibal. He laughed as he dodged them all.

"You respected your friend and teacher, yet at the same time you couldn't understand him. How could someone so lazy be so powerful? He never had the discipline like you did. He never trained as hard as you did. He never appreciated dedication or hard work like you. You would study so many ancient scrolls for hours on end and meditate for as long as you could to find answers and teach yourself so you could grow. Dashi meanwhile was napping under trees and choosing instead to make silly magical toys...most of which you deeply felt served no purpose and a waste of his skills and power. He seemed to care more about his little toys than your training. Gallivanting you and Guan all over the world to hide them, when you were instead supposed to focus on far more important things." Hannibal said while dodging the rest of the boulder Chase tossed.

"Are you going to talk or fight, you pathetic bean?" Chase hissed.

"You probably would have made it to becoming a Xiaolin Dragon...but Dashi was always holding you back. And worse, he always seemed to favor Guan. How could such a lazy fool pay more attention to someone so undeserving? Every way he would approach an enemy or challenge didn't make sense to you. It just didn't seem correct, sometimes it didn't even seem honorable. The man talked about fighting evil yet you couldn't help but feel deep down he was a hypocrite." Hannibal-Dashi said with slight amusement.

"Enough with this meaningless chatter and fight me!" Chase snapped.

He then blocked one of Chase's kicks and threw him backwards, grabbing Chase by the throat as he pinned him against a tree.

"He was a lowly nobody originally...yet he was the Grand Master  _you_  had to follow. You weren't a nobody though, were you Chase? But Dashi refused to see that. He had the audacity to keep treating you as inferior to him, to ignore the greatness you truly believe you were destined to rise to. Greatness that was yours by birthright. You could pretend you respected him far more than Guan, but in the end, you hate him even more than that foolish Master Monk. You absolutely despise Grand Master Dashi. You were going to prove it to the both of them how you were far more superior to them, that they can't ignore your greatness anymore. But your ambition and ego made you blind Chase...it always has." The demon mocked through Dashi's laughter.

Chase said nothing, choosing to glare with every ounce of hatred he had in his body towards the demon in Dashi's skin.

"I think we had enough games," Hannibal's voice now said instead of Dashi's, hatred now burning in his eyes, "Time to put you in your place you ungrateful brat."

"I suppose that would be my que." A feminine laughter filled the air.

Wuya appeared before them, Hannibal grinned, Chase still looking irritated—but he didn't look as angry as he was a second ago.

"You don't look so surprised to see her here." Hannibal said with a half smile.

"I would hardly call this surprising to me." Chase replied dryly.

Hannibal snorted, but turned to Wuya (who looked a bit annoyed that Hannibal would choose that form), a dark smirk on his face.

"My lovely Wuya, I think it's time we locked up this unruly hellion...give him a taste of what you and I had to endure." He then turned back to Chase and he tightened his grip from where he pinned Chase, "Let's see how you like being sealed off for centuries on end. But this time, I doubt anyone here will come to set you free."

Chase smirked, Hannibal looked concerned only for a split second. He only had a split second to be concern because Chase broke free of his hold and socked him in the jaw, before kicking him in the gut.

"W-Wuya! Now!" Hannibal wheezed out.

"Yes...quite right. Ruby of Ramses!"

Hannibal couldn't even comprehend as he was being flung around, being thrown into tree and rock one after the other. Wuya was tossing him around like a rag doll. Ying Ying even tried to swoop in to help her master, but Wuya just had the Hannibal-Dashi crash the bird into a tree, before repeatedly smacking the bird creature over and over again with Hannibal's transformed body. Eventually Ying Ying was out cold, but Wuya continued to play around with the demon.

"I'm so glad he took this form, you have no idea how therapeutic this feels." Wuya said gleefully.

"Wuya enough playing around—"

She interrupted him, "Don't be such a killjoy, I got you what you wanted."

She dropped the Ying Yo-Yo into his left hand as she continued to throw Hannibal around some more.

"Should we really leave the Moby Morpher with him?" Wuya inquired.

Chase dusted some of the dirt off his armor as his more neutral expression returned to his features.

"It matters not, I have a feeling this will possibly be a temporary measure. There is a good chance we'll still hear from this nuisance in the future. But for what I have planned it matters not regardless." He answered.

"Wuya! You double-crossing witch! We had a deal!" Hannibal growled as Wuya continued to toss him around.

"Wrong, Chase and I had a deal. And his deal is much more beneficial for me than yours. Sorry about that...but getting you out of the picture was part of that." The redheaded witch laughed.

"Chase Young, what are you planning?" The demon hissed.

It was odd seeing such out of character expressions on Dashi's face, but that didn't really bother Chase. He shrugged and a smirk curled onto his face.

"Hannibal, by the time you might even possibly guess what my plan is...it will already be done." Chase said smoothly.

There was a silence as Hannibal was still being thrown around, as he glared at Chase. He seemed to have some small understanding of what Chase was up too.

"That boy...I heard about your activities while I was trapped last time from that rat Spicer...you still want that boy, why? That little child is insignificant and will never join you." He said through a frown.

"Unlike you Hannibal, I don't give up when a good opportunity lays before me. And also...it's like you said, I have ambition. It is because of that ambition that I will succeed. And I doubt one such as you could possibly understand the potential Omi presents, you always did lack vision."

Chase played around with the Ying Yo-Yo as he gave a more condescending smirk towards Hannibal-Dashi.

"It's true, I grew to hate Guan. I grew to despise Dashi. But there is one being in the universe I hate far more than them, that is you. I suppose I should thank Dashi for at least teaching me this technique. You remember this one Hannibal, since I used it before last time." Chase smirked.

He flung the object forward.

"Ying Yo-Yo!"

The portal to the Ying Yang World appeared behind Hannibal, who was still trapped in the hold of the Ruby of Ramses. Chase punched one hand into his other, pulled apart and clapped, before raising both hands still clapped together to his eye level. A golden light started to glow around his hands.

"No! You can't do this again! Stop!"

"Evil creatures that incite hate and rage, I banish thee now to your miserable cage!"

A blast of golden light shot from Chase's hands, shooting him into the portal, where it will push him to the darkest corners of the realm and form his old cage around him once more. The portal closed and Chase took a small breath, glad to have that annoying threat neutralized for the time being.

"What was that technique? I've never seen you use it before." Wuya asked as she clamped her arms over his left arm.

"It is specifically meant to create an impossible cage to break out of unless someone let's you out, but the cage can only be formed in alternate dimensions. Dashi used this technique to banish several demons and trap them." He answered.

Wuya was about to ask another question but he held up his other hand to halt her. He felt a familiar sensation as he meditated throughout the week. Indeed one could learn to control the girl's powers through meditation, but there were still visions that liked to come and go as they pleased.

He closed his eyes and let the vision wash over his senses. He had not just one vision, but two, both in rapid succession after the other. When it was over he opened his eyes, a heavy frown on the Prince of Darkness's face.

"What's wrong?" The Heylin witch asked.

He let out a suppressed sigh. He snapped his fingers and his five jungle cats that he sent away reappeared.

"Go to the Spicer's residence. I want you to destroy everything in that idiot's lab. Not a single scrap of metal and hardware should be able to function." He ordered.

The cats left in immediate haste at their master's words. Wuya just blinked at him in puzzlement. She didn't need to ask, he knew what she was thinking.

"When you took over the world, the monks didn't have a time traveling Shen Gong Wu to help them. But Jack Spicer did build a time machine at that time am I not correct?"

Wuya just nodded her head in response to his question.

"The Sands of Time is lost, but the monks would be desperate enough to try that method again in order to stop me after we have what we require. Even if it means being risked trapped in the past, they would without question go those lengths to keep my plan from succeeding. As long as his lab is destroyed we won't have to worry about them going to that method." He said with mild annoyance.

"That isn't what is bothering you the most though. There is something else, right?" Wuya inquired.

He took a breath of the clear cool air and nodded.

"Raimundo will try looking for Jack Spicer because he wants to spy on us. Obviously if he goes to the Spicer residence he will not only find Jack missing, but the lab will be destroyed. I can't have the boy investigating and trying to thwart my plan. But unfortunately I have to change up my plans a bit more once again." Chase answered in a vexed tone.

Wuya just leaned closer and waited for him to explain.

"You will go to the temple and create a distraction when they return, battle the monks with the new Wu you won from the Showdown with Raimundo. There is a village full of idiots not too far away. Turn all their inhabitants into animal servants and attack the temple. I'll allow some of my jungle cats to aide amongst your little animal army, for you will need the extra muscle if you are to buy me time." Chase said.

"Time...I can't hold them off for a whole day you know—"

"I know that." Chase interrupted.

He wiped some of the dirt off his face as he glared into the distance.

"Unfortunately, I won't meet Omi at midnight tomorrow as planned. We have to speed the plan up, it has to be done tonight. I will take Omi to retrieve the Wu while you have to hold off the monks for as long as you can. I will have one of my warriors signal you when you should return to my side immediately." He instructed.

He was risking a lot the more he sped up his plan, but he had no choice. He couldn't allow the other monks to interfere when he was so close to obtaining his objective.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I referred to Ying Ying as a she, this is a reference to dragonnutt's fanfic "Wu Xing Shield". As I kind of like that headcanon that Ying Ying is a she and totally subscribe to it.
> 
> Some people think Jack's parents are just rich people who don't pay much attention...while I'm certain to a point that is accurate, I don't think they're just average rich people. After all Jack stated he got the hellibot (is that how it's spelled?) from his grandmother when he "turned evil". So I just get the feeling evil is probably in the family business.
> 
> Wow this chapter was really hard to write! I think I rewrote this chapter like three times. I wasn't fully satisfied till now. But ugh, Hannibal Roy Bean is not as fun to write as Chase and Wuya...simply put he is harder for me to do. I have to rewatch a couple of more episodes to get a better feel for him because I'm more used to writing everyone else.
> 
> I always wondered what Chase's opinion of Dashi was. I always assumed it wasn't very high considering how he used to be friends with Guan and now hates him, and how he abhors the Shen Gong Wu. Plus I feel with Chase's personality he probably didn't understand Dashi or they didn't always get along.
> 
> I have to admit, the whole trapping Hannibal thing was...kind of vague in the show. Chase just punts the bean and boom, he's now in a magic cage? Uhhhh? So yeah I just decide to tell myself there was probably a technique or spell involved that helped him do that.
> 
> AH JACK AND YUN! I love their friendship so much, I can't wait to write more of them in the future. (I hope to draw fanart of Jack and Yun playing cards while trapped lol, the idea was just too cute and funny). While they didn't have as much comic relief moments, they will eventually in the future, but I don't want their friendship to be just all comic relief, I do want it to have cute and genuine moments too.
> 
> You know it sucks that Chase's time was divided between dealing with the monks, Hannibal and Wuya (back when she betrayed him) in season 3...because if he didn't have to split his attention between all those foes, maybe he could of finally had Hannibal dealt with...maybe.
> 
> But don't worry, we haven't seen the last of Hannibal. I have BIG plans for him eventually.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it and please leave a review! Reviews are the lifeblood of us authors!
> 
> Also before I forget, I want to personally thank just-absolutely-super, my awesome friend and beta editor, for always helping me out!
> 
> Till next time guys!


	7. We Have A Bargain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tensions finally explode between Omi and Raimundo, but when Omi goes to cool off after the argument before returning to be with his friends once he feels he's calmed down, Chase's servant arrives to tell Omi now is the time. Omi follows after her to meet up with Chase. Wuya attacks the temple to distract the monks while Omi and Chase leave to grab the Wu, Chase needs for his plans to succeed. Omi who doesn't realize he's in another trap, and thinks this is merely just an alliance between good and evil for the sake of a common goal-strikes a bargain with Chase for fear in the event he does lose the Wu to Chase once the evil warrior tells Omi the true nature of this Wu they are after to "prevent Wuya from getting her hands on".

* * *

Kimiko sighed as she glanced back at Clay behind her (who was holding the three new Wu), who frowned down at her. The ride back to the temple was... _tense_ , to say at the least.

That is for her, Clay, and Dojo it was. For Omi and Raimundo it was far more  _combative_.

It has actually been a while since the last two fought. Arguments between the two used to be a reoccurring thing but it lessened over time. Omi originally let go Raimundo's suggestion about spying on Wuya  _and_ Chase. But he obviously had not forgotten fully and brought the topic back up, he was not pleased.

The littlest amongst them did not fail to point out a lot of contradictions in Raimundo's arguments. But Raimundo wouldn't let up his stance against the youngest member, the team leader firmly holding his ground in their heated debate.

Dojo let out an exasperated sigh as he flew through the air; the Xiaolin Temple was thankfully in view. It was a huge breath of relief for the cowboy, the green scaled dragon, and herself at least just to see it after the draining trip back (thanks to two certain passionate, bickering monks).

Dojo swiftly made his descent back down to the temple grounds. They were greeted by Master Fung as they all hopped off Dojo, who shrunk back down to his smaller size, but the Dragons of Wind and Water paid it no heed and continued their argument.

Kimiko and Clay noticed a light smoke coming off one of the buildings, as if there was once a fire but was finally letting up. The petite teenage girl snapped her head to Master Fung, a look of concern on her face.

He just held his hand up, a silent gesture that he will explain when Omi and Raimundo stop fighting.

The dark-haired monk felt her already thin patience start to wear down. She was ready to smack them both upside the head. Master Fung had something important to tell them and they weren't paying attention; no instead they were still bickering.

"Why should we concentrate on multiple threats when we have not for the past several months, Raimundo? Suddenly you do now? Why?" Omi glared up at the teen.

"We've been through this already! I am not going over it again!" Raimundo snapped.

"What are you not telling me,  _leader?_ " Omi snapped right back.

"You are the last person to lecture me on keeping things from other people!" Raimundo yelled.

That caused everyone to pause. Omi backed up a bit; a slight wave of nervousness came and left from his countenance. The bald kid's facial expression morphed back into anger.

"What in tarnation is Rai doing? I thought we all agreed to keep quiet until the time was right." Clay whispered to her.

She pursed her lips and exhaled a huge breath of air she was holding, through her nose. She shook her head and tapped her foot.

Of all the nerve. He lectured her yesterday evening to be patient and not lose her temper. That they needed to wait until the time was right before they approached Omi because they didn't want him to doubt all of them or lose any of their trust. That they needed to be careful about everything they said around Omi because this was Chase Young! A man who could of fed who knows what lies into the boy's young impressionable head! (To paraphrase what he instructed her last night.)

"Just what are you implying Raimundo?" Omi asked defensively.

"What do you think? You sound more worried about your  _buddy_  Chase than getting to the bottom of this!" Raimundo shouted.

"Raimundo!" The female monk exclaimed.

She noticed the tall Texan male smack his forehead from the corner of her eye, but she didn't pay it any attention. Raimundo seriously was blowing everything! And with this argument, along with letting Omi know they are onto his secrets, could really damage things for them!

They didn't want an argument to wedge their trust between them and Omi again like last time. That had only further served to push Omi away from them and right into Chase's hands. As much as she  _still wanted_ to smack Omi upside the head and give him an earful of everything wrong that he's doing, before locking him up somewhere she can keep him sheltered from Chase Young (at least until she clawed that immortal jerk's eyes out); she was seriously two seconds away from smacking their  _brilliant_ leader upside the head a couple of times. And while she's at it he needs an earful of lecturing too! Just what did he think he was doing? (Especially how he told her not to do this very same thing, that ticked her off more than anything.)

The Dragon of Fire however now noticed Omi's eyes widened with fear. The boy's lips were pressed into a thin line; his fingers trembled from anxiousness.

"What do you mean?" The littlest monk answered after a hard swallow.

"Omi, we know all about your little visits with Chase. Just how long did you think you could keep something like that from us?" Raimundo asked, he stopped shouting but his tone was still laced with much irritation.

"How did you—"

Raimundo interrupted him, "Let's just say a little dragon told us."

Omi looked over at the green reptile who was hiding behind Fung's leg, laughing nervously and waving sheepishly at the kid. The Dragon of Water glared and opened his mouth, but Raimundo stopped him again.

"Don't you look at him like that and whatever you're about to say to Dojo you can just keep that to yourself!" Raimundo growled.

"Dojo has been really worried about you, little partner." Clay chimed in clamly, in hopes to diffuse some of the tension.

"We all are." Kimiko added gently, she eyed Omi with worry written all across her face.

Raimundo rubbed the back of his head, tapping his right heel against the ground impatiently. His eyebrows were still knitted in frustration and his shoulders and posture remained tense.

"What are you thinking Omi? Have you forgotten everything Chase Young has done? Everything he tried to do? Everything he had done to  _you_!?" Raimundo tried less to sound angry and more concerned, but his tone was an obvious mix of the two.

Omi just glared at his feet, Kimiko could tell there was so much swirling in that round head. She couldn't pin all the emotions Omi must have been feeling. But when he looked up, the Japanese teen could feel herself take a step back. She never witnessed such anger and heartbreak in Omi's eyes before. The littlest one was trembling from head to toe.

"You do not have a right to say such things to me!" Omi shouted in a shaken tone.

Omi looked like he was on the verge of frustrated tears. She held back her instinct to try to hug him; she knew he wouldn't accept it right now. But she couldn't hold back the confusion in her face at Omi's words. She had no doubt the others felt the same.

"Of course I have not forgotten! I most certainly  _never_ have forgotten!  _You_...You are the ones who have forgotten!" The boy yelled—jabbing his trembling, right index finger at them.

The boy's knees were shaking; his fingers had balled into tight fists and trembling with the rest of him. Omi's eyes were starting to look wet but tears refused to spill out as both rage and sorrow swirled on his young face.

"Little partner, what are you—" The blond started to inquire but Omi interrupted the oldest of their group.

"I have never forgotten a single moment—a  _single detail!_  But you all...you all  _allowed_  yourselves to forget!" The bald kid shouted.

Sorrow, frustration, anger and something else; all those emotions wrapped into his expression. He jabbed his right index finger in an accusatory manner again, but this time it was directed at Raimundo alone.

" _You!_  Raimundo—you yourself said it was something you would never forget! But that is a lie!" Omi snapped as he threw his arms to the side, his whole body was shaking like a slender tree in a windy storm.

And with that Omi turned his heels and fled, running around the corner towards the gardens in the back. The Dragon of Fire moved to go after him but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to see the Dragon of Wind shook his head. She let out a heavy sigh and frowned at him. Opening her mouth, ready to give him a serious dressing down for his impulsiveness and going back on his instruction he gave all of them to follow.

Raimundo made a motion with his right hand, then smacked himself upside the head. She blinked, a bit puzzled. He glanced back at her and gave Kimiko a guilty grin.

"I know—I know exactly what you are going to say Kim. And you're right...I messed up." He admitted.

She let out a hard sigh; she still however gave him a half smile, despite worry still in her blue eyes.

"Give the boy a few minutes, Omi needs a little bit of space to clear his head after an argument like that. I am sure he will return to us after calming down. Now, while we wait for him, there is an urgent matter I must discuss with you all." Master Fung said as he placed each hand on Raimundo and Kimiko's shoulders.

They nodded in agreement with Master Fung's instruction, while Dojo slithered up to Clay's shoulder and let a huge woosh of air exhale from his mouth. The tension slowly trickling out the green reptile's little body; Clay gave Dojo a small smile before nodded towards Master Fung as well.

* * *

Omi listened to what Master Fung said to the others about Wuya attacking and stealing a few Shen Gong Wu while they were away. He didn't actually run off to the gardens in the back, just hung out around the other corner. He wanted to be away and clear his head (he just needed some air and distance away from everything, but he also wanted to listen to whatever important news Master Fung had.)

He was thankful he did, because now he learned further of Wuya's treachery.

He was so frustrated with his friends. He knew he shouldn't have the right to be after keeping so much from them, but it was just so unfair to him.  _Why_  should he remember both the awful future and alternate timeline?  _Why_  could no one else remember? Not even Dojo could recall much of it!

The small boy kicked the dirt in exasperation.

Omi crossed his arms and took a deep breath. He then found himself wondering what to do about Chase. They promised to meet up tomorrow at midnight but after hearing the recent events, Omi wondered if he should go to him sooner to warn him about this development.

His friends would surely notice him missing if he did such a thing. He scowled at the dirt resting under his feet. Was it really  _so wrong_ that he wanted to keep them out of it?

It wasn't just because he knew they wouldn't understand or approve. Omi was afraid. Afraid of all the nightmares he'd been having recently. Not just failing to save Chase, but also the dreams that were haunting memories of the other timelines. Especially nightmares of his friends in the awful future. Of them...

Omi shook his head as he shut his eyes tightly; his left hand firmly over his mouth, holding back the urge to gag at the memory. No, he would not allow his friend to suffer for his sake and not especially for any of his mistakes. Not ever again. He simply refused that to ever be an option.

He gave a hard swallow and opened his eyes. He let out a deep breath and decided to trek back to the gardens out back, what he originally seemed like he would do. There he would meditate and figure things out from there.

Omi came to a halt when he noticed a gloved hand in front of his face, another behind his head; coming out from the bushes to his left. He almost let out a scream. But the arms dragged him back into the bushes, holding him tightly, one hand firmly over his mouth. He kicked and struggled at the grip of the skinny arms that were stronger than they looked.

"Young Omi, please do not make a fuss." A feminine voice hushed.

Omi stopped his struggle when he looked up.

It was a Japanese woman, with short dark hair and green eyes. She was dressed head to toe in black attire, with her clothes trimmed with green lines, a black cloth covering her neck and face, a green sash with a three pointed star tied around her waist and two short range blades tied to the side of her sash.

She released him from her grip when he stopped his thrashing, the boy calm now and regarding her with curiosity.

Something about her was familiar to him. He couldn't put his finger on it but he knew he'd seen this ninja-dressed warrior around somewhere before.

"Forgive me for startling you, but we must leave quickly and quietly. My master requests your presence immediately." She stated in a hushed tone.

"Your master?" Omi whispered back, still confused.

"Chase Young." The ninja warrior replied in a low voice.

Omi's eyes widened with clarity, now realizing where he had seen her before. Probably only briefly during one of the times he was at Chase's lair. But he now recognized why her face was vaguely familiar to him.

"Oh, well thank you honorable messenger for coming to meet me." Omi responded in a hushed voice, but lightly bowed his head as a way to greet her—there were manners he was taught since a young age that he must always keep up.

Her eyes gave no hint to any change in her facial expression. They remained still and showing no hint of emotion as when she first started speaking to him. Despite her stoic expression, she gave a light bow in response as well.

"Please forgive me if I am quite mistaken, but I thought we were to meet up tomorrow at midnight...is this not so?" The small monk kept a polite tone in his whisper but confusion was still mixed in his voice.

"You are not mistaken young Omi, but complications have changed the development of your original plans. My master needs your assistance right this moment. We must not delay a moment further, follow me." She responded in an undertone.

"I understand." Omi whispered with a nod.

His friends would not be pleased, but right now he did not care. They simply could not understand how important this was to Omi. He had to keep them out of things to protect them. But he also had to save Chase from himself. The Dragon of Water quite certainly wouldn't  _ever_ forget those memories and he  _refused_  to give up on Chase. He didn't care if the whole world had forgotten or would continue to turn their backs on Chase Young.

Omi wasn't about to. Despite being on opposite sides...in spite of Chase being one of their enemies they must face, Chase was still technically someone who was one of Omi's friends. Indeed he was on a completely different level than the others. The way the treated each other was not remotely similar to the relationships he had with his other friends but that didn't change that Omi still felt that to some degree Chase was someone he viewed as a friend. The young Xiaolin monk absolutely forbade himself from ever giving up and turning his back on anyone he deemed as his friend.

* * *

Raimundo almost followed Clay, Dojo, Kimiko and Master Fung into the temple; however something caught his eye. He saw a slender figure dressed in black, along with Omi, hop over the temple walls.

He grit his teeth and dashed after them. The green-eyed teenager used a blast of wind from the palm of his hands, that he aimed at the ground, to hurl himself over the wall. Raimundo kept about ten feet of distance between Omi and this mysterious woman that his tiny friend was following, and himself. Just enough to stay out of immediate notice but not enough that he'd lose sight of them.

They were hopping through the trees of the wooded area behind the temple before the two came to a halt when they reached a pond that was about half a mile away from the temple. Raimundo stayed hidden in a tree, still about ten feet away from them, as he watched intently.

A figure slid out of the shadow of the trees, before jumping over the pond towards Omi and this ninja lady. The figure was none other than Chase Young. Raimundo ignored the dark-clothed woman bowing to the Heylin warrior as he narrowed his eyes, observing the whole scene with heavy suspicion.

The eavesdropping teenager however didn't fail to notice that Chase's hair looked on the messy side. The fallen Xiaolin warrior's armor and skin even looked like it was covered with dirt and some minor scratches. Raimundo also observed there was a light-blue colored bruise on Chase's jaw.

"What happened?" Omi exclaimed with obvious shock at Chase's appearance.

Chase only smoothed his hair out before dusting off his arms and shoulders a bit more. He also wiped his face lightly with his left arm before letting out a small sigh.

"Nothing to worry about, these small inflictions will heal very shortly thanks to my abilities. But if you must know young monk, I was ambushed." Chase answered in an even tone.

Omi was obviously was still a bit taken aback at the normally sophisticated and collected man was in such a disheveled state. Probably even more taken about at how nonchalant Chase was about being ambushed. At least that's what Raimundo assumed when he took in his friend's expression.

"By who?" Omi asked with obvious concern.

"Wuya and Hannibal Roy Bean." Chase replied crisply.

Omi opened his mouth but said nothing, instead closing his lips shut. He stood in astonishment and concern of the news, but the small monk still waited in polite silence for Chase to speak further. Chase walked forward to Omi, reached down grabbing Omi's hands. The boy froze, keeping his hands held out, awaiting whatever it was Chase was planning on giving him. Chase snapped his fingers and the ninja lady walked over immediately, pulling a tiny bag out that was tied to the back of the sash tied around her waist. She handed it over to Chase, who untied strings at the top of the little purple draw bag. Chase kept his eyes close, an emotionless expression on the villain's face as he pulled an object out of the small bag.

"I apologize, it would seem Wuya had stolen this from your temple." Chase said as he opened his eyes and dropped the Ying Yo-Yo into Omi's hands.

The young boy just glanced up at Chase, more concern in his eyes.

"Their plan was to ambush me then trap me in the Ying Yang World, just as I did to Hannibal all those years ago. But Hannibal made the unfortunate mistake of underestimating me." Chase added with a muted grin.

There was a pause. It seemed Omi must have picked up on something whatever it was Chase must of hinted at, that Raimundo didn't catch, because he heard the bald child gasp.

"You defeated him!" Omi exclaimed.

Chase just shook his head, slightly pacing back and forth.

"I merely trapped him in the Ying Yang World as I did once before, that measure has always been a temporary one. Even I know that, but thankfully he is currently out of our hair. However that pathetic bean is the least of our worries—Wuya is still out there." Chase said.

The dark-haired man halted in his tracks. Raimundo froze and remained hidden were he was, hoping Chase didn't know he was there. It was silent for about half a minute. Raimundo finally got the nerve to dare to peek.

Omi and the female ninja just stared at Chase with seriousness but confusion in their eyes. Chase turned to the ninja lady and just pushed a strand of hair behind his ear, while tapping his foot. The short-haired woman nodded and then threw down what looked like a small pebble; a smokescreen surrounded the dark-clothed lady. When the smoke cleared away completely after about fifteen seconds, Raimundo raised his eyebrows as he realized the ninja lady had disappeared.

Raimundo blinked, but watched further as he then saw Chase turn to Omi. The immortal young man first straightened out his gloves. At that he noticed Omi froze, looking tense. Chase then pulled at his collar slightly with just the thumb, index and middle finger of his right hand. Omi simply nodded and pulled something out from under his robe.

It was then Raimundo realized what Omi pulled out was the Golden Tiger Claws. His eyes widened and his grit his teeth, but it was too late.

"Golden Tiger Claws!"

Both Omi and Chase Young jumped into the portal created out of thin air by the Wu, before the portal vanished. Raimundo jumped down from the tree, now really frustrated. The Brazilian teen blasted some wind at a small rock, destroying it on impact.

He wasn't sure what the heck that was about, but Chase must of figured out they were being watched. But how did Omi figure that too and know to pull out the Golden Tiger Claws? Chase didn't even say anything.

Raimundo let a silent gasp escape from his lips as he understood what happened. Signals... _silent_  signals.

Just as Chase communicated orders that way to his ninja servant lady...he did the same with Omi. He  _taught_ Omi silent signals! Ones that clearly  _only_  Omi would get! A way to communicate to Omi, that not only other villains but Omi's own friends as well, wouldn't understand!

The Shoku warrior now punched the tree he hopped out of so hard that it nearly broke in half; instead of being broken into two pieces, it was hanging over limp, as it's branches crashed into the tree next to it.

 _"I'm getting real tired of you teaching Omi things behind our backs, Chase Young."_  Raimundo mentally growled.

The brunet became distracted when he heard a loud explosion in the distance. He turned back into the direction of the temple as his jaw dropped in horror when witnessing smoke rise to the sky.

"What else could go wrong today?!" Raimundo hissed as he dashed back to the temple.

* * *

With instruction, Omi teleported them to a mountain deep within the Himalayas, that Chase foresaw the Wu he needed was hidden in. However that was only after teleporting them to the doorstep of his lair first. It was much easier to explain Omi where to go after getting out of the watchful eye of his nosy friend.

As they searched for the hidden entrance to the cave, even Chase had to admit to himself that Dashi was quite clever when he wanted to be. If he never had the help of Wuya's artificial daughter, he wouldn't of realized that neither Dojo or Wuya would have been able to find it. Because this Wu was one of a select few that Dashi didn't want to ever be revealed. The Grand Master had intended for it to be hidden for eternity.

Though thinking back, knowing what those select Wu could do, it was easy to see why. It was just amusing that Dashi of all people would actually take extra precaution. (Although even Dashi's levity had its limits.)

Though Chase was actually a bit surprised at how this Wu wasn't  _that_  far from Dashi's old temple. (Give or take about twenty to thirty miles.) To think something so important would be so close, right under everyone's noses.

He kicked down a large boulder, as it rolled off the side of the mountain, revealing a hidden cave. Omi almost trekked in until Chase stopped him, placed his extended palm a few inches in front of the boy's face.

"Be on guard. This Wu is a very special Wu. Dashi had this well protected. There will be several traps we will have to get passed before reaching it." The immortal warrior instructed.

Omi nodded and followed after Chase instead, however the boy did stick firmly at his side. There was a long silence between the two as they went in further into the dark cave.

It was a bit annoying how cold it was starting to get but Chase would manage. Because of his  _"condition"_ ; the immortality, the power, the strength, the fast healing, the greater endurance and stamina, several other new-found magical abilities, and the ability to transform...they were not the only things he gained from the Lao Mang Long Soup. He had the unfortunate side affect of being cold-blooded like most reptiles. And while he could endure much far better than any human, animal or mythical creature, that didn't stop even cold dank caves from being annoying.

His thoughts were interrupted as the first of the defenses appeared. Several arrows started to fire at them from above. He and Omi ran quickly enough to make past them with ease, but things got a bit tricky when new arrows started to shoot out from both their left and right as well.

He was pleased to see that Omi has improved on his training. The boy matched his moves in almost perfect unison as they dodged them all. Despite being on opposite sides, he still considered Omi to be his pupil and felt pride at the boy's advancing skills.

After making it through Chase smoothed his hair back once more and smirked at the child who let out a breath of relief next to him.

"You have certainly improved young monk." Chase said, slightly impressed.

Omi shot his head up at the dark-haired man, excitement in his features.

"I have?" The boy was practically beaming from the approval.

Chase nodded in response. Omi snickered and scratched his ears, while kicking the ground beneath him.

"Well naturally. After all, I am most certainly going to become the greatest Xiaolin warrior who ever lived!" The boy boasted.

Chase shook his head and chuckled lightly at his naive protégé.

"Perhaps...however I wouldn't get so overconfident yet, little one. You will never get to that point if you continue to lax your guard on your left side." Chase patted the boy on his head.

Omi's boasting deflated along with his narcissistic excitement. The boy's lips twitched into a crooked frown of annoyance, his eyes peered at him with slight concern and disappointment, while his eyebrows knitted in bewilderment.

He knew Omi was still a child, and naturally as such would always openly express his emotions so clearly. But that never stopped Chase from finding it a bit entertaining that the boy could wear so many emotions on his sleeve like this. Especially in front of one who was supposed to be his enemy. It sometimes astounded him how Omi could give this much trust to someone he really shouldn't. (And that much trust to someone many others would insist that he shouldn't.)

"You must be yanking my toes. I have been practicing daily on my moves, especially my guard on the left after you warned me about such last time we trained!" Omi argued, his crooked frown still on his face.

"The expression is " _pulling my leg"_  and no, Omi, I have no reason to do such. It is true you have improved greatly since our last training exercise. I have acknowledged such. But while you made great improvements, you still have a small weakness you need to be made aware of if you are to fully correct it more so in the future." Chase explained.

He pointed out to Omi that there was a small cut in the fabric of his sleeve on his left arm, just an inch above his elbow. Omi peered down at it in surprise, but then winced a bit when Chase placed slight pressure with his index finger against the boy's left cheek. Not enough to hurt him or make it worse, but just enough to get his attention. Omi blinked up in confusion when Chase showed little droplets of red at the tip of his finger. Omi touched his left cheek, somewhat startled. The boy was oblivious until that moment there was shallow cut on his cheek from an arrow grazing against his skin.

"Do well to be careful. And you should not only be mindful of your surroundings, but your actions and reactions as well. I would be disappointed to lose my most promising pupil so soon over something trivial." The Prince of Darkness advised.

He noticed Omi frown up at him again, the little monk's eyebrows furrowed, obviously not comfortable with that title. The boy was probably fighting back the urge to exclaim how he's Master Fung's student, not Chase's. Chase however was not interested in either of them getting into an argument over something so insignificant and continued forward. Omi picked up on that and didn't fire a response; the young warrior chose instead to thankfully let it go and followed after the older warrior.

After a minute of quiet, the Dragon of Water decided to break the silence.

"It is not a mistake I am most willing to repeat." The little monk returned to their previous topic and declared with upmost conviction, "You said you needed my help and I will continue to be on my fingers at everything to come! I will do my best to push my own density in this alliance! I am here to be of assistance, not to be a hindrance."

He didn't feel the need to correct that the phrases were  _"be on my toes"_ and  _"pull my own weight",_  as Omi understood Chase's instruction and comprehended the seriousness of the situation. (Even if there was a lot Chase kept from him. Though naturally, of course, for the sake of his plan.)

He nodded but didn't look down at the boy.

"Believe me little one, you are not a hindrance." Chase said neutrally, but he was honest.

He certainly didn't see Omi that way. Sure the fact that Omi chose to view himself belonging to the side of good was a hindrance, but the boy himself was far more valuable to Chase than to be considered anything but an asset. Only if no other options allowed him to obtain the boy's loyalty and service, would he unfortunately be forced to consider Omi a weed that must be rid of, instead of an opportunity to harvest.

The mortal child and immortal man found themselves in comfortable silence once more. It remained that way for quite a while until another set of traps appeared. This time the ground caving in, in random sections, beneath them. They both managed to leap ahead of each hole, the holes seemed to drop down into pitch darkness. It was hard to tell how far the holes went because of the darkness; although the two didn't get much time to observe to see how far, at the rate the holes appeared on the ground.

After jumping over several, leaping back and forth between the walls to make it over, Chase made it safely onto the other side where the ground was finally stable. Omi seemed content in hopping from the wall to the stalactites on the ceiling. The boy clung to the ceiling briefly, then managed to swing his way across each stalactite on the ceiling before letting go once he got above the immortal warrior. The monk landed safely next to Chase.

Chase noticed there was a question in Omi's eyes as they made their way down the caves once more.

"What is on your mind, young monk?" Chase inquired.

The bald child gave a side-ways glance before slouched and took a breath. He looked back down at the ground as he crossed his arms. Omi peered back up at Chase, a more neutral expression on the young one's face. There was a slight curious gleam in his eyes, but it was so small and the cave was quite dimly lit, that it could have easily been missed.

"This Wu...I am still most unfamiliar with it. We teleported back to your lair quite hastily...to of course avoid whoever, likely the most double carding Wuya, spying on us—"

Chase then interrupted Omi's reply; a part of him couldn't help but be slightly amused, but despite this he kept a straight face.

"That's  _"double-dealing"_ , little one."

"Yes, yes, that too. Anyways...the details you given before we left for this place were most vague. You told of me a small bit concerning this creation of Wuya's that can see into the future. And how very limited control this creation had over her powers...so we would have much advantage over Wuya if we acted now! But...that is to say...I mean—what is it about this Wu that is most dangerous for  _Wuya_  to have? What is it that would have  _you_  most concerned to the point you most strongly urge we join forces?" Omi questioned.

The immortal man gave an even smile as he let a relaxed breath of air exhale through his nose; his hands behind his back and looking forward instead of at Omi.

"Omi, what do you know of the very first batch of Shen Gong Wu that Dashi created?" The Heylin warrior asked.

* * *

Raimundo, Kimiko, Clay and Master Fung were all fighting off a huge horde of animals. There were not only some lions, tigers, cheetahs, and panthers; but there were also wolves, oxen, bulls, bears, a few large eagles, ostriches, wildebeests, hyenas, a couple gorillas, about five monkeys, a large snake (that Clay was currently wrangling with), a couple of rhinos, and even an elephant.

The other monks of the temple were trying to help fight off these animals too, but everyone had their hands pretty full. They all shouted at the witch earlier, disgusted Wuya would use innocent people (from the village not too far away from the temple) when she expressed using them. Wuya of course laughed at them for acting appalled and abhorred she'd go so low as to use innocent people to do her dirty work. Which yeah, it wasn't surprising she'd do such a thing, but they weren't really shocked she'd do it, just peeved that she'd still be willing to always sink that low.

Raimundo glared up at Wuya, who was lying down leisurely on the roof of one of the buildings. She mockingly cleaned and polished the Dong-Wu Bian Bracelet around her right wrist with her left sleeve, as she grinned impishly at the Dragon of Wind.

Something didn't feel right though, Raimundo could feel it.

The three tigers, two lions, panthers and cheetahs were especially more adapted to fighting against them all compared to the other animals. Kimiko blasted a tiger that had Raimundo pinned with a fire attack. He gave her a nod and went back to his thoughts as he fought off the two wolves and one of the panthers, while Master Fung kept the elephant and two rhinos busy.

Raimundo knew the evidence and what it pointed to. The evidence pointed to Wuya up to no good again, that wasn't hard to believe. However, he still couldn't shake the feeling Chase was up to something. He wasn't like Omi; he didn't have well developed tiger instincts and whatnot. But he had a gut feeling that told him there was more to this.

A thought came to his mind. These jungle cats, amongst Wuya's little animal army, they seemed to fight a little  _too well,_  in Raimundo's opinion, to be normal people like the other animals. Granted they were fighting just as ferociously as the other animals, but still something in his gut told him they seemed to be slightly holding back compared to the other animals. And their moves seemed to be almost more...intelligent. Like there was still some human intelligence in there.

There was always the possibility he was over-thinking things and just being paranoid. Clay even asked him earlier (last night to be precise) when he voiced some of his suspicions to Clay and Kimiko, if Raimundo was sure that he wasn't being too paranoid. That Raimundo was sure he wasn't letting this drive of over-protectiveness cloud his judgment concerning Omi. Raimundo knew Clay and Kimiko felt the same as he did, but Clay was the most levelheaded of the three, and was willing to consider all possibilities.

He may be the leader of the group, but as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't always going to be right. And Clay did bring up a good point. Raimundo sighed as he sent a wolf that was aiming to attack him from both his front and back by creating a small tornado around him. The two wolves got back on their feet and continued their combined assault on the Dragon of Wind with the panther. Raimundo made sure to not let his guard down despite his thoughts. As he kicked one of the wolves in the jaw, he frowned as his mind still swirled with his thoughts and suspicions.

Clay meant well, and Clay did still obviously have a point. Today proved such when he unintentionally blew up on Omi despite telling himself he was going to exercise caution and calm. He wanted to be patient and wait for the right moment and right words to say to the youngest member, not wanting to drive away the boy's trust to other places that shouldn't be there. There was a lot Omi was holding back...that could only further push him away in Chase's direction if they are rash with their words, and oblivious to Omi's words and actions like last time.

However he still felt his paranoia was justified, and he knew Clay and Kimiko would agree that it was despite not approving of him losing his temper with Omi earlier.

What if these cats were Chase's servants? It would explain why he felt they were possibly holding a bit back and fighting slightly better than the other animals (despite the other animals doing a very good job at keeping them all at bay). Plus, there was the fact that Wuya was just sitting there. Why was she not using this time to try to steal their other Shen Gong Wu?

Wuya was smart, but how could she know what Raimundo was going to do before he did it in their Showdown? Why would she only steal a small bit of Wu at a time these past few days? It was not in her nature.

No...Even with her intelligence, this was far too calculating for someone like her. Everything about this stunk of something he'd expect more from Hannibal Roy Bean or Chase Young. And where had Jack Spicer been the last couple of days? It was starting to get suspicious they hadn't heard a peep out of him once any time a Shen Gong Wu was revealed these past few days. Even though he hadn't had as many victories, even after Raimundo rose to Shoku warrior, Jack Spicer had not once missed an opportunity to attempt to nab a Wu. Not once did he not show up since the time of Raimundo's promotion, until now. Why now?

Why would Chase be content just laying low? Why would he and Omi have these civil meetings once a month? Sure he could see Chase allowing it, but to what end other than trying to build up Omi's trust and turn him to the Heylin side again?

Raimundo punched both wolves in the jaw as they tried to double-team him. He grit his teeth at two panthers made their way to attack him, along with some of the eagles flying over head; dive-bombing him—one of which nearly took his head off but thankfully he flipped away in time.

Now that he thought about it...if Wuya really was scheming something big, only taking a little bit at a time what she needs; everything that she was doing  _still_  didn't make much sense. Because why hasn't she tried to get to the vault to snatch a few more Wu while they were distracted?

Why even come back to grab some more Wu? She only seemed content in grabbing some while they were either asleep or away so far. Why come back now in broad daylight? And that's another thing that bugged him, Wuya was crafty but she was never  _that_ sneaky that she could continually steal Shen Gong Wu from them, right under their noses. Making a big explosion and attacking while they were away, sure that sounds more her style. Not sneaking around the dead of night, and how does she even know all the different codes to the vault they changed daily?

No, everything about this almost seemed more like she was playing distraction.

Raimundo then felt as if a large rock dropped into the pit of his stomach as dread started to squeeze his heart. His eyebrows rose so high they could touch his hairline and his eyes widened with distress at the realization. He could feel the dread spreading through his body, prickling at every cell like a cold numbing chill. He felt goosebumps crawling up his legs, arms, and the back of his neck.

 _"Wuya is just a distraction!"_  His insides felt all twisted at that revelation.

Keeping them all here at bay, with a few of Chase's cat warriors and these animals she created from the villagers. Omi was now away from them, away from their influence and protection. He must of gotten Wuya to help him trick Hannibal Roy Bean into thinking she wanted to betray him, and then he trapped the bean. He was clearly keeping up this charade long enough so they wouldn't catch on until it was too late.

He balled his hands into tight fists.

" _Over my dead body you are taking Omi from us again, Chase Young!"_ Raimundo shouted into his thoughts.

Raimundo was distracted when something caught the corner of his eye. Something in the distance...in the clouds. It was hard to fully make out, but someone dressed in black was flying away on the Longi Kite. That's when he remembered the ninja lady. It looked as if she (if it was her) was flying away from the temple.

Could she have been the one to steal their Wu previously? It would make plenty of sense given that servant of Chase's was a ninja, and ninjas are known for stealth. The Longi Kite was one of their Wu locked up in the vault but obviously not anymore.

Raimundo bit down on his lip so hard he broke the skin and a small drop of blood trickled off his lips. It all made perfect sense to him now.

Kimiko grabbed one of the cheetahs by the tail and threw it into the eagles that were all flying down to attack the Shoku warrior once more. The animals all crashed into one of the bushes to the left. She jumped to his side and they both kicked away the panthers that leaped at them. The blue-eyed teen looked at him with concern.

"You haven't been fully in this fight Rai, what is going on?" She asked.

"Kim...I just...I know Chase Young is behind this somehow. I'm sure of it! Omi is in  _serious_  trouble, I need to go find him! But—"

She blasted away another cheetah with another one of her fire attacks. She gave Raimundo a sad but understanding smile as she held onto his right hand with her left hand for a brief second and squeezed it.

"I understand. Don't worry, we can handle this—trust us. Go get our little cheese-ball and bring him back safely okay? We'll come catch up with you as soon as we can. Go, I'll cover for you." She said as she nodded her head and let go of his hand.

"Thanks Kim, you're the best." A small smile curled onto the brunet's face.

"Don't you forget it!" She winked as she pulled out the Star Hanabi from within her sleeve.

Wuya jumped down as she noticed Raimundo rushed to head indoors.

"Just where do you think you're off to Raimundo?" Wuya asked mockingly then pulled the Eye of Dashi off from around her neck, aiming it at the Shoku warrior, "Eye of Dashi!"

"Star Hanabi Fire!"

Kimiko shot out several fireballs. Two of which canceled out Wuya's lightning attack and the other four aimed for the Heylin witch. The red-headed witch dodged them but the Dragon of Fire didn't let her assault up. Wuya jumped back as Kimiko now engaged her into a fight.

Raimundo knew the two panthers were chasing him again, but thankfully he didn't have to run far. He spotted his green and grey backpack on a wooden table against the wall on the left side of the room; snatching it up as he made an immediate turn and sprinted down the hall, heading for one of the side entrances. They were still on his tail as he unzipped the pack and pulled out the Silver Manta Ray. He tossed his pack to the side as he stopped in his tracks and placed his hands together.

"Typhoon Boom, Wind!"

A blast of air sent the two jungle cats flying backwards and they crashed into the table that his backpack was previously on. The table breaking into three pieces on impact. He turned his heels immediately and darted out the door.

"Silver Manta Ray!"

He hopped into the Wu, and drove off into the air as fast as he could. He thankfully spotted the ninja lady, but kept his distance. Hiding within the clouds, not wanting to alert her he was on her trail.

" _I'm coming Omi! You better still be our Omi when I get there! Just wait for me little dude!"_ Raimundo thought to himself as the familiar dread was squeezing his heart and twisting it into knots.

* * *

Omi continued to follow Chase in silence, as he still couldn't believe his ears at what Chase had told him earlier. He focused on dodging all the falling blades, then later flying darts from their left and right. But Omi still kept silent, as he stayed close by the Prince of Darkness.

He wiped away the few drops of sweat that formed on the back of his neck. Despite the cold dank air of this cave, sweat had still formed there. Though it had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with his nerves. He now understood how dangerous it was letting something like  _that_  fall into Wuya's hands. Something that would cause  _Chase Young_  to want  _his_  help. The ex-Xiaolin warrior was right. This would be a huge problem for both Omi and Chase. Much like how the spiders was a troubling situation for the both of them a year ago.

However, Omi was still nervous. What would happen when they find this Wu? It was very important to keep it out of Wuya's hands, but what then when they found it? Would they have a Showdown over it?

It was obviously not something Omi would want in the hands of evil, even Chase Young. And he had no doubt Chase wouldn't want this in the hands of Omi or his friends either. Despite their alliance, he doubted either of them would be okay with that.

"What are we to do when we get to the Wu?" Omi finally asked through the tense quiet.

He heard Chase let out a heavy sigh next to him.

"Yes, I must admit it does trouble me the thought of leaving it with you and your friends. Who is to say you won't try to use its abilities against me?" Chase stated as he continued to stare forward into the dim cave.

Omi fidgeted with his shirt, looking down at the ground. Silence fell between the two warriors once more. It felt far more awkward to Omi then, than it did previously.

The child bit the inside of his lip and he twiddled his thumbs while his mind tried to come up with a solution. After what felt like a long while (but really it was only two minutes) a suggestion came to the Dragon of Water's mind.

"What if we were to do—as they say—slice a bargain?" Omi spoke up.

"That's  _"cut a deal",_  young warrior." Chase didn't even bat an eyelash when correcting Omi.

"That too." Omi said.

Chase still didn't look down at the young monk, continuing to look ahead as he clasped both hands behind his back once more. His shoulders seemed to relax a bit more as the man took a light breath through his lips.

"Very well Omi, I'll humor you...what do you have in mind?" Chase asked in an aloof tone.

"I give you my Xiaolin word that I most certainly will not, under any circumstances, use this Wu against you. I even promise to not allow my friends to use it against you either...that is, if I am the one to walk away with the Shen Gong Wu. " Omi declared up to Chase.

"And what would you have of me in return, little one—if I should be the one to walk away with the Wu in this agreement?" Chase asked evenly.

Omi took a deep breath. He walked a bit faster before stopping in his tracks in front of Chase. The immortal man halted his steps; a neutral expression on Chase Young's face as he stared down at the boy, who was staring up at him with a very serious and determined facial expression.

"You must give me your word that if you have this Wu, you will never use its powers against my friends. Not Kimiko, Clay, Jermaine, Master Fung, Raimundo, and Dojo. They are to be left out of any scheme you could plan with that Wu." Omi made his demands as his eyes narrowed in conviction from his words.

Omi didn't care what Chase could do with that power to the world or to himself, but he refused to let anything happened to those he treasured most (Yes, he did care, but not to the same degree as he cared about his surrogate family). He knew in his heart Chase was more likely to agree to the terms if he kept to just his friends. Asking him to not use that power against the entire world would be asking too much from this alliance. He knew even Chase wouldn't ever agree to terms such as that. But his friends...he didn't want to see his friends suffer.

Chase closed his eyes momentarily and took a quick breath through his nostrils. One of his hands extended from behind his back, outstretched to the boy in front of him. Chase opened his eyes and a small smirk curled onto his face.

"Omi, you have my word that I will never use it against your friends. We have a bargain." Chase replied.

Omi smiled and nodded, taking the hand in front of him and shaking it.

* * *

He knew this conversation was going to come up, but Chase had to admit even if he didn't have the help of that artificial life's foresight...Omi was quite predictable.

" _I never intended to use it on your friends, little one. You, however, are another matter entirely."_ He smirked as Omi turned around and followed back to his side.

They made it to a clearing in the cave. It was almost as if there was a large, spacious room. There was a large and almost flat rock formation in the center. It would have been an island if not for two rocky pathways connected to it. One from the tunnel they just came out of and another pathway that led to another tunnel on the other side. The ceiling was high with even larger rocks draped from the top. The bottom you could not see, the edge of the rock formation in the center of the room seemed to drop into what practically looked like a bottomless pit, the pitch darkness hiding how far down it went.

Chase frowned has he grabbed Omi by the shoulder. The boy paused his steps where he stood, peering up at Chase in bewilderment. Chase could feel another vision coming on, so he paused and thankfully Omi stayed silent and only watched in curiosity as Chase stood silently, eyes closed, taking a few short breaths.

He let the vision wash over his senses. The vision only lasted a few short minutes but for Chase it honestly felt like it was actually a few minutes longer than how much time the actual vision lasted. He opened his eyes and Omi blinked up at him; the child appeared very puzzled. He didn't pay it heed however. They would be having another guest heading their way soon, and not someone he was planning on expected.

Fusa jumped from out of the shadows behind him. She bowed lightly but remained in firm attention as he delved into her mind. He saw that she had given the Rio Reverso to Garreth, who was to take care of that Wu as he instructed, while the monks were distracted with Wuya. She further monitored them before leaving to return to Chase at the exact time he told her to leave. Good...that part was taken care of, as expected.

However, she was not alone. He could sense it not too far away, and getting closer. (Although he foresaw this just a couple of minutes ago, he knew exactly who was coming.) Thankfully with the perfect clarity of the vision he had, he knew how to easily counteract every move of the unwanted guest. Many things were still risky in this far in the game, but he couldn't afford to have any setbacks now. He must take this opportunity while there is still a chance.

"Fusa, take Omi with you, and go as far as you both are able. I have to deal with the pest who seemed to follow you. Once I am done here I will come for you both shortly so we can finish this." Chase sighed with slight irritation.

Fusa widened her eyes with shock, obviously surprised that she didn't catch a hint or notice that someone was following her. Omi's expression mirrored hers but obviously for a different reason.

"Is it Wuya already?" Omi asked in a worried tone.

It seemed Omi was taking Chase's previous behavior as that the immortal probably sensed the chi of both his servant, Fusa—as well as Wuya, approaching them. Which it was perfectly fine if Omi came to that conclusion. Not like Omi needed to know that it was actually Chase who was utilizing that artificial girl's abilities and not Wuya.

Instead of answering, Chase narrowed his eyes at Fusa. She nodded and gave a small, quick bow. Fusa grabbed Omi by the arm, the boy protested but couldn't do much as Fusa dragged him along. They both disappeared from sight, as the other started to get closer.

Chase stood in the center of the rock platform, his back to the tunnel where he, Omi, and Fusa all came out of. Five minutes passed and he sensed the presence of the nuisance now coming out of that same entrance.

His lips curled into a thinly-closed smile. A muted chuckled escaped through his light smirk; hands were pressed behind his back, one fist clasped into the other. He however didn't turn around to face the newest presence in the cave, not even as he spoke to greet the unwanted guest.

"Hello Raimundo." Chase said with a fake polite tone.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There have been quite a couple of fanfics (though the main one that I am most familiar with is from Growth and Decline) that utilizes a headcanon that Chase is more cold-blooded. I have to admit I kind of agree with that headcanon. I mean the guy is fully dressed from neck on down, despite wearing so much he lives in a volcano, and there is also the fact that he transforms into a dragon/humaniod-ish monster thing. Which you can argue could possibly cause Chase to become cold-blooded. I don't know, I feel the headcanon has merits and support it.
> 
> Also we got a little bit more RaiKim ship teasing sprinkled here and there in this chapter, so I hope my fellow RaiKim shippers enjoyed that ;)
> 
> Also friendship feels because gosh these four are going to be the death of me. But then again so is Omi and Chase with their friends/enemy relationship too. Too many wonderful relationships and interesting relationships in this series...they all will be the death of me.
> 
> I also have several fanarts I want to share with everyone! A lot happened! Not just things I sketched! But I am touched to say other people drew fanart for me too!
> 
> I was going to draw Yun and Jack playing cards while trapped in the Sphere of Yun, but I don't need to anymore, as someone sketched it already for me! As you can see here! (this was drawn by a friendly tumblr user by the name of hidden-page)
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/85416522743/hidden-page-its-not-the-best-and-the-back
> 
> Here is a sketch of Fusa, drawn by my awesome friend Karina.
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/85925380533/chihayahearts-drew-me-this-cute-sketch-of-my-side
> 
> And here is quite a few cute fanart pieces (done by the lovely tumblr user baiyonnette). In this order they are of; Yun, Yun and Jack being bff cutie dweebs, Fusa, and a chibi Fusa.
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/85619460868/hello-i-liked-your-writing-so-i-drew-yun-hope-ya
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/85716322548/baiyonnette-drew-me-another-really-cute-thing-i
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/85922992133/baiyonnette-you-spoil-me-again-you-made-my
> 
> angelrin89-dot-tumblr-dot-com /post /87224200173/ baiyonnette-drew-me-another-really-cute-thing-for
> 
> And here are two separate Fusa sketches I did (one is a touch up of older Fusa sketches, and one is a new one)
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/87217022198/so-i-have-some-previous-fusa-sketches-that-i
> 
> angelrin89.tumblr.com/post/87235654193/here-is-the-anime-styled-fusa-like-i-said-i-was
> 
> I hope you enjoyed what I have so far! Also, another special thanks to my friend and beta editor, just-absolutely-super. I couldn't of done all this without your help Janie!
> 
> I can only promise it's only going to get more intense, the stakes are getting higher, and several mysteries will soon be revealed! Also the feels will be magnified tenfold B). Prepare yourself for it.
> 
> Again I hope you enjoyed this chapter but please don't forget to leave a review! Reviews are the lifeblood for all writers!


	8. Haunting Illusions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raimundo and Chase face off! Meanwhile Omi and Chase's servant continue to trek down further into the dark caverns. But these caverns aren't all what they seem...

 

* * *

Omi stared at his feet then back up at the ninja woman next to him with each step. He kept looking back and forth between both. In truth, he never spent this much alone time before with one of Chase's servants. He never heard any of them talk before but it shouldn't surprise him they can. And well, while the ninja lady is a very quiet person and didn't talk much, Omi still realized how much it felt strange hearing her speak because of the fact he never heard any of them speak before. Plus it was still so strange to him because, again, he never been alone with one of them before.

"Pardon me, but may I ask what your name was again?" Omi asked.

He remembered Chase called her by name. That fascinated Omi. A part of his mind told him he was probably being too optimistic, but really it said something about Chase.

Omi has on occasion heard Chase refer to some of his warriors by name. Usually when he was only addressing one of them and not a group, but still...

From what Omi has seen from villains, they do not seem to care about their servants or minions. Not even so much as addressing any of them by name. Despite these people losing their freedom at the cost of falling to Chase Young in battle, Chase still gives them the respect by calling them by their names. Chase Young still allows them to  _have_ names. It was just not something he would expect from someone evil.

And there is the fact that Chase  _does_ seem to respect his warrior servants. Omi has never seen Chase treat them like they were merely objects. Sure they are still servants, but compared to other villains who have lackeys...Chase is almost downright hospitable (well as close as one can be when evil) to his servants in comparison. It was another thing that Omi felt that proves that somewhere deep down, there is a small bit of good buried under all that darkness.

"Fusa." The woman answers, not glancing down at the child.

"Okay...so, Fusa...how long have you been serving Chase Young?" He asked.

"About eight hundred years." She stated.

Omi blinked as he grown a bit more curious. In truth he didn't know much about the people who served Chase. The lives they all must of lead before being trapped into servitude. How did they all feel about it? Did they grow apathetic to it, depressed, or angry?

"It must of been hard." Omi felt himself say without thinking.

He clammed up and didn't look at the woman. He felt guilty, why was he bringing this up? Sure he was curious but he realized for all he knew he was being insensitive. Unlike Omi, this woman and the others didn't escape Chase Young's clutches.

"It was, at least until he appeared." The woman said.

Omi shot his head up at the woman who still wouldn't look at him. For the first time since she appeared to him at the temple, Omi heard actual emotion coming out of her voice. There was almost...regret in her voice. But now Omi was puzzled by her words. He who?

"Forgive me, I do not understand." Omi replied softly.

Fusa stopped, as did Omi in response. She still did not look at the boy, continuing to look forward. Omi heard the faint sound of a water drop falling from the ceiling onto the ground below in the distance. It remained silent, even as the woman briefly looked at the child finally. Her eyes, it was hard to understand the expression. Her green eyes stared down Omi for at least a minute before she glanced ahead once more.

"You seem to be under the impression that all of us who serve Chase Young are either those who were tricked into it like yourself, or defeated in combat—am I correct?" She finally asked.

"That is...incorrect?" Omi blinked.

Omi had grown to realize he sometimes was not always the best judge of character. Compared to his friends he was very naive, he supposed that had something to do with his age. But he still firmly believed in looking for the best in people.

However, Omi did trust his instincts. Yes he made several errors over the years, but he also had proven to have correct instincts too. He knew that while Jack was a jerk, deep down he wasn't truly evil. He felt Jack probably felt pressured to be that way and it was just easier. He had  _seen_ that while Chase was evil, Omi knew his good was not completely erased from him either. He was right when Jack substituted a robot for Kimiko, his instincts were correct that it wasn't really his friend. He wasn't a fool and believed there was good in Wuya or Hannibal; there had been nothing to prove him so, those two were without question evil down to their bones. And he figured out that Katnappe was trying to dupe him that one time, and double-crossed her first before she could steal all of their Wu.

So yes, he knew he was at a handicap because of his age and people have and can take advantage of that and his trusting nature. But he still trusted his instincts with all his heart. While this woman, along with Chase's other followers, were strangers to him...Omi felt in his heart that this woman wasn't evil.

She was implying she followed Chase by choice, but he just had a hard time believing that she would willingly be evil. Something in his instincts told him this woman was not a bad person.

"Surely even you must understand that not all of us follow him because we have to obey. Some of us follow his orders because we respect him." Fusa answered indifferently.

"Yes, but...why?" He inquired.

For Omi this was vitally important news to him now. He honestly never considered that there were other alternatives. It just never crossed his mind for some reason.

"Some love the thrill of battle and don't care who it is they serve, they will take orders under any master if it means to go to battle. Some are in it for the power and glory...feeling he will be the one to bring them to that. Some merely are afraid to die, and hearing of his immortality, wish to be a part of that. Some were indeed like you, and tricked into becoming one of his soldiers. Some, indeed, were ones who challenged him to battle and lost, as promise of the loss now must follow his every command. And some are evil ambitious warriors, wanting to serve and carry out the evil deeds and spreading darkness." She trailed off as she started to walk forward again.

Omi followed after her but remained silent for a bit as she spoke. He swallowed some saliva that sat in his mouth, feeling almost hard as it traveled down his throat. He let out a deep breath before he brought up the courage to finally speak.

"What about you? Where do you lie?" The small monk asked.

"Neither..." She uttered.

Omi blinked in confusion but awaited her explanation as he followed after her. She let out a sigh and combed through some strands of hair, continued to trek forward.

"Forgive me if I don't wish to delve much of it, but it boils down to two reasons." She replied.

Omi managed to get to her side, so he was walking next to her as opposed to behind her. He hoped to see her face, but she was still looking ahead as opposed to down at him. Thanks to her covered mouth, the only hint of emotions Omi could see would come from her eyes. And as it has been with her nearly the whole time; she gave no hint of emotion to pick up on or guess what she might be thinking.

"First and foremost, I owe him my life." She said with almost a hint of an emotion, but not one he could quite pick up on.

Omi's eyes widened though, a small smile found it's way onto his face.

"He saved you?" Omi brightened.

Fusa glanced down at him, still no expression in her eyes.

"You sound almost...gladdened." Her tone was laced with hints of curiosity.

"Chase Young, the evil Heylin warrior, saved a life. That most certainly sounds like something a person who is  _not evil_  would do." Omi said with a big grin.

"You seem to be mistaken. He needed me for my skills like the others. He would not see to talents being wasted when he would rather see them being used to further his goals." Fusa stated.

Omi shook his head a smile still there.

"And you  _still_  most certainly respect him, and feel you owe him your life. Besides, why waste effort to save a life? If you are most evil—you would move on and search for others to replace...unless you are suggesting you are a talent he felt was not repairable."

The female ninja blinked and quirked an eyebrow, but still there was not much emotion in her eyes.

"What you mean to say is, talent he felt was  _"irreplaceable"_ , young Omi." Fusa stated.

Omi nodded, "That too."

It was silent for a minute, the smile not lost on Omi's face. He spoke up again.

"My standpoint remains—"

"Your  _"point still stands"_ —"

Omi waved his hand interrupting her interruption, "Same difference."

He shook his head and his frown morphed back into a smile again as he stared up at her.

"Most evil doers that have crossed my path have rarely become most invested in someone unless they feel they are very special. I do not doubt you are a talented warrior, but from what I know of Chase Young, he and others of Heylin rarely put in that much effort if you are someone who is just to be another servant. I do not doubt Chase Young's intentions were selfish for recruiting you, but I also do not doubt that deep down there is still good inside Chase Young. If he saved your life—that most definitely encourages my belief."

He was sincere. Omi knew Chase was very focused turning the boy to evil, however Chase felt there was something special about Omi. And while Omi's ego agreed with that sentiment, that didn't change the fact that Omi couldn't even see Chase putting extra effort to save someone who wasn't "as special" as others. He meant it. She was no doubt a talented warrior; no one the Heylin warlord recruited were pushovers, they were all seasoned and mighty warriors with different skills. There are many talented fighters out there. But there are many who are not on the same level as those on the Xiaolin and Heylin side.

Chase was gathering a powerful army, yes. But while it would be unfortunate to lose a skilled addition for an evil commander, he couldn't see Chase put in extra effort when he could probably find someone at the same level as his other servants. Omi could easily see Chase rationalizing it that he needs the woman's skills like his other warriors. But to Omi, it just didn't make sense for anyone on the Heylin side to ever put in extra effort and actually save a life for selfish reasons unless they  _absolutely felt_ they needed that person.

For example, Hannibal, after returning didn't try to see if he could repair any relationship with Chase. He instead moved to try to get Wuya on his side. Those who are evil are for the most part opportunist. Jack eventually grew tired of Wuya, and Wuya then recruited Raimundo. Raimundo betrayed her and Wuya eventually worked with Katnappe briefly before her and Jack resumed partnership. When Jack proved not up to her satisfaction, Wuya dumped him for Chase. And when she and Chase were starting to butt heads, she instead moved to work with Hannibal. Hannibal attempted to convince both Omi and Raimundo on separate occasions to join him (though Raimundo was tricking Hannibal) but he never actively pursued them constantly. Chase and Wuya patched things up and resumed partnership before recent events.

Those who are evil were oppertunistic and sought personal gain. Rarely ever did they fixate on an individual unless they felt that individual was vital...Omi had noticed this trend and it just fueled his personal beliefs concerning people like Chase and even Jack.

Fusa cleared her throat, breaking Omi from his thoughts. Instead of focusing on that scenario, Omi decided perhaps it was best to switch to another subject. It seemed to him that this ninja probably never considered the thought nor wanted to care to consider that thought.

"What is your second reason?" Omi asked.

She stopped in her tracks so Omi did as well. When she turned to face the boy, Omi felt himself taking two steps backwards. The mere sight of her expression caused him to momentarily hold his breath. Her eyes...Fusa normally expressed barely any emotion, but now there was a cold look of pure hatred in her eyes. He took a silent swallow, it hard to ignore how intimidated he felt.

"I was promised revenge." Her whisper was as cold as her eyes.

Omi decided to drop the subject entirely as they trekked further down in silence. He was shaking some of the goosebumps he received after seeing that. One look at her though and she was back to her composed, emotionless self. It made Omi almost anxious, just what happened to make her that way? And what of Chase's other soldiers, what were all their stories?

It grew very silent as they made their way through what felt like a labyrinth. There were so many twists and turns, several dead ends, and not to mention booby traps that sprang every step of the way in between.

A dart almost hit Fusa, and if Omi thought about it, the woman no doubt could of dodged it. However the boy acted on instinct and jumped in the air, kicking the dart so it broke in half. She looked over at Omi and just blinked as she relaxed her fighting stance.

"Why did you do that?" The ninja asked.

Omi let out a huge breath of air and scratched his left ear.

"I suppose I—well you see..." Omi struggled to find words.

"Your mission should be the most important thing, young Omi. You should not stop to help others. Regardless if they can protect themselves or not, the mission is far too important." Fusa stated stoically.

Omi frowned. He remembered when they all were searching for the bird of paradise. All Omi could think about their duty as Xiaolin warriors and their goal; Raimundo on the other hand stopped to help the old lady. He never forgot that. It had only proven in the long run that Raimundo indeed was the right choice for leader. He always cared about his duties, but by watching the others, Omi started to develop new habits and took on other instincts too.

"Forgive me, I am aware you are a capable warrior. I simply acted without much thought." Omi replied.

There was a small pause as the boy wiggled his toes in his shoes, pondering his next response.

"My duty to the Xiaolin ways and making most certain evil does not succeed, is of  _great_  importance. A Xiaolin warrior who forgets their duties is not worthy of the title. However, a Xiaolin warrior who forgets their honor...is most  _surely_  not worthy. How can I protect this world from evil if I forget those who live in this world? A Xiaolin warrior strives to always defeat those who proudly do evil. But we also aid those in need of our assistance and give protection if we are most able." Omi took a breath, a half-smile curled onto his lips, "At least, a good friend taught me such a lesson by his example."

Fusa's eyes seemed to relax slightly, but it was hard to tell.

"It sounds like you really respect this friend of yours." She noted.

The child nodded as his half-smile turned into a fuller one. His expression however then morphed into a guilty frown as he stared at the ground.

"What is the matter young Omi?" Fusa asked.

"I was not respectful, earlier today. I do not feel what I am doing is wrong but...I was not..." The boy sighed, "I should of not yelled or gotten most impatient with them."

Fusa only observed him, as they walked further into the dim tunnels. She did not give a response. Omi wasn't sure if he was grateful for that or not.

They came to a stop when they notice they appeared before a dead end. Just as they turned around, they realized, the tunnel behind them vanished. A rock wall like behind them was now in front of them, effectively blocking them off from turning around. They were trapped.

"I am most confused, how is this possible?" Omi questioned with a muted, apprehensive tone.

"This must be another one of Grand Master Dashi's traps. It seems to me we have gotten to the point where small booby traps won't be a minor annoyance anymore." Fusa said as she narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Omi asked.

"From what my master informed me, the more moderate traps we faced thus far are simply to ward off anyone... _average._  Normal human beings who do not have the training or abilities that those of the Xiaolin and Heylin have won't be able to get past those traps. However, the trickier traps start the further down you go. Grand Master Dashi incorporated those to ward off more troublesome folk." The black haired woman explained.

Omi started to realize the more he discovered about this situation the more questions that formed in his head that he didn't even consider previously. He was so concerned about everything Chase had warned him about, that a couple of things honestly slipped past his mind.

"How does Chase have such knowledge of this Wu, that he knew of its location and of these most annoying traps?" Omi inquired.

There was another momentary pause. Omi felt almost as if he just asked a stupid question. It wasn't like Fusa was looking at him with an annoyed or judgmental stare; her stare was as neutral as it was before. But after the question tumbled out of his mouth, he did start to feel like maybe that was a dumb inquiry.

"My master has trained for years under Grand Master Dashi before his switch to the Heylin side. He was there during the creation of many of the Shen Gong Wu's. Why, my lord even helped hide some of them as well." She answered.

Omi peered up at her with upmost curiosity. There was a lot about Chase's, Guan's, and Dashi's history that Omi didn't know. But he was always so interested to know more about the three of them. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, those curiosities would be satisfied another day. He had another thing to ask...the other question that slipped through his brain because he was too concerned with other worrying thoughts to let himself have this question.

"If he knows of these things, why need my assistance at all? Is it not more gamble-taking to have your enemy aid you, especially for something this troubling? Forgive me, but would it not be of more beneficial for Chase Young to just come in here with you and his other warriors?" The bald child questioned.

The green-eyed woman made no shift in her expression, even as she gave a light sigh. Her shoulders relaxed from its stiff posture, but still remained in full attention.

"I can understand your train of thought young Omi. After all, he would serve to gain more to just come with his servants. Ensuring getting the Wu before either the Heylin witch, or yourself and your friends. The risks to himself would be far less that way. However, there is the simple fact that my master cannot retrieve this Wu without your help." She explained simply.

Omi blinked rapidly as another half-smile appeared on his face. He was both confused and flattered.

"These original Wu that Grand Master Dashi created, I believe that Spicer fellow would refer to them as... _"prototypes."_  I am not certain on how many of these...prototypes...were created. But their little—side effects—caused great concern for the Grand Master. Despite making certain these Wu would be well hidden and heavily guarded, if I am not mistaken...there was one other extra last line of protection Grand Master Dashi placed on these select Wu." Fusa continued to explain.

"And that is...?" Omi uttered as he raised an eyebrow.

"All of these original select Wu, once you finally get to them, there will be a special magical barrier that surrounds it. It will protect the Wu. Even if one who is Heylin gets through all those traps, they won't be able to touch the Wu. The barrier is practically unbreakable. Only one thing can rid of it. And that is the chi of a Xiaolin warrior." She rubbed her right shoulder as she answered.

Omi raised both eyebrows and his lips parted slightly while staring up at the Japanese woman; the boy was filled with a bit of clarity.

"My master, Chase Young, may have once been a Xiaolin warrior who was training to become a Master Xiaolin Dragon—but that is not who he is anymore. He is of the Heylin now, it would recognize him as such. Even the two other Xiaolin warriors he recruited over the years would not work for they are now servants of the Prince of Darkness. Their chi belongs to him, and darkness surrounds us." She finished her explanation.

That caused the young monk's jaw to drop a little further as his eyes widened marginally.

"There are two other Xiaolin warriors that are his servants?!" Omi asked, a bit taken aback.

Fusa merely nodded, "Yes but that was long ago, even long before I came to serve him. It was more of chance that he acquired them both, rather than actively seeking them out like several of us. But that is of no importance to us right now."

Omi frowned, a bit disappointed she won't tell him more. But he nodded in response anyway.

"What are we to do now?" The little monk asked.

"My master ordered that I am to lead you as far as we are able to go. I wonder if this is as far as we can travel without his assistance. However, you are a trained warrior and monk. Meditate young Omi, perhaps an answer can be found before my master returns to us." She suggested.

The female ninja blinked while her usual stoic expression remained on her face before sitting down. She smoothed out some of the fabric on her shirt while doing so, closing her eyelids and taking a deep breath.

Omi took in a couple of deep breaths before sitting down and crossing his legs. He closed his eyes as he took another deep breath, lulling himself into meditation.

* * *

Raimundo cracked his knuckles as his nostrils flared somewhat. He then pulled out the Sword of the Storms that was attached to his back. The teen slightly widened his stance as he clamped his fingers around the hilt of the blade.

"Sword of the Storms!"

He swung the Wu, sending a huge blast of wind at Chase Young. Not surprisingly, the man leaped up into the air and successfully dodged the blast; he landed nimbly back in the center of the extensive rock structure that stood tall in the middle of this cavern, which practically seemed bottomless. The Heylin warrior didn't even bother to turn and glance at the adolescent. He continued to stand there with both hands behind his back.

That was really starting to irritate Raimundo.

"Where's Omi?" Raimundo asked, his voice tense.

"Oh I'm certain the boy is around here somewhere." Chase shrugged.

"No more lying, no more games. I know you and Wuya aren't at odds with each other. Whatever you are up to, you can just forget it, I will put an end to this, you hear me Chase Young?" Raimundo said through clenched teeth, "I know you know where Omi is. Now tell me or I'll—"

Raimundo halted his words when Chase Young finally turned himself around to look at the teen. That condescending smirk just begging to be punched off.

"Or you'll what Raimundo? You cannot stop him from his true destiny. You most certainly aren't going to find him in time. And you cannot stop my plans. But please, you are quite welcome to try. I could use the entertainment." Chase's voice was practically dripping with arrogance.

That made Raimundo's eyebrow twitch. He charged forward, throwing punch after punch. Chase still didn't remove his hands behind his back, dodging effortlessly without lifting a finger as he evaded Raimundo's blows. That served to irritate Raimundo further.

"Why can't you just leave Omi alone?!" Raimundo threw a kick at the man, who blocked it with his knee.

He then jumped on Raimundo's leg, kneeing the teen in the jaw with his other knee. Raimundo flipped backwards as his feet skidded across the rock, little bits of dirt left a dusty trail in the air from his skid marks. Raimundo wiped his jaw as he glared at the immortal warrior.

"You don't leave a seed in a garden where it cannot grow." Chase stated simply in response.

Raimundo practically snarled, "Oh and  _you_ are just  _"oh so generous"_  Mr. Benevolent Chase Young? Ha—give me a break!"

"It must be so frustrating to be you Raimundo. I almost pity you." A smirk curled onto the immortal's face again as he said sarcastically, "What must it be like? Being so resourceful and clever—yet still have a tiny mind that cannot comprehend the grand scheme of things."

Raimundo growled and charged at Chase Young. He moved to attack him again with the Sword of the Storms, but Chase grabbed the Wu and punched Raimundo in the gut.

The brunet doubled over as he gasped for air, brought to his knees. Chase simply tossed the Wu over the edge, it fell deep into the darkness below.

Raimundo hissed as he got up to his feet, glaring at the villain. Hatred burned in his eyes. He charged the man again, this time as Chase dodged Raimundo's punch and kick combination, Raimundo flipped backwards and set a blast of wind at the ground under Chase; sending several rocks flying upward. Chase punched each rock with rapid speed, bursting into tiny pebbles.

Raimundo took this quick moment to take advantage of the situation. He rolled behind Chase Young, leaping forward and yanking him down more towards him by his long hair. He punched the man in the back of the neck. Chase, however, grabbed the boy by the wrist and threw him over his shoulders, Raimundo slid across the rock and dirt.

Silence fell briefly. Chase merely straightened himself and smirked.

"Like I said, you are indeed a resourceful individual when you put your mind to it. I will give you that, Raimundo. You think ahead and learn to adapt to the battle at hand. You will improvise at a moment's notice, you definitely are the wielder of wind in that regard. Able to freely move and think, change at a moment's notice. Out of the four, you are indeed most suited for the position of leader." Chase stated calmly.

Raimundo crinkled his eyebrows while his lips curled into a crooked frown. He wasn't sure if he hated being looked down on more by Chase Young, or receiving a compliment from the fallen hero.

"But even your cleverness will not help you save the day. You simply do not fully understand your enemy or the bigger picture. You are just as blind as Guan and Dashi was." Chase shook his head.

This jerk was unbelievable. Did he actually think Dragon of Wind was going to stomach the garbage he spouted?

"Stop pretending you are doing this for Omi's sake! Because you and I both know you are not!" He spat out, "You don't care about his well being, you never did, so don't give me this bigger picture crap! Omi is nothing more than a tool, a weapon you want to use! The only thing you care about is yourself!"

There was a pregnant pause. Raimundo eyed the older male with rage boiling inside him. It really ticked Raimundo off how Chase just stared at the teen with this calm expression. The man closed his eyes, a cocky smile curled onto his face as a chuckle escaped Chase's lips.

The Shoku warrior widened his stance as his fists started to shake. If he clenched his teeth any harder they would probably break.

"And just what's so funny?" Raimundo growled.

Raimundo was seething, just what did Chase Young find so amusing?

"It bothers you  _so much,_ doesn't it? That Omi has been secretly meeting with me...training, meditating, even coming  _to me_ for advice. Leaving you all in the dark, keeping secrets from you…from his  _f_ _amily._  I am not worried even in the slightest—but you are, aren't you?" Chase taunted.

The teen's pupils were constricting; his right fist was practically throbbing.

"Yeah I'm worried! Omi's my best friend! And I'm not about to let you corrupt him into another one of your servants again!" Raimundo shouted.

Raimundo sent another barrage of punches at the immortal warrior, who just dodged them all with an arrogant grin.

"Temper, temper Raimundo...I thought training together with a hot-head like Kimiko would of taught you how important it is to keep your anger in check if you are to focus in battle." Chase advised sarcastically.

"Unless your name is Fung or Guan, I won't listen to a word you have to say!" The Xiaolin leader sneered.

He threw another punch, this time Chase blocked it, kicking Raimundo in the shin. Using the confusion from the kick, Chase elbowed Raimundo's forehead before shoving Raimundo to the ground with his other arm. Raimundo rubbed his head, trying to shake some stars out of his eyes. He glanced up to see Chase Young looking down at him with slight annoyance in his face.

"And you actually wonder  _why_  I want Omi at my side? Unlike you and the rest of your lot there is a chance to save Omi from you miserable band of fools—at least the boy listens. Far more open minded than the rest of you." The villain scoffed.

"Omi doesn't need any kind of saving from you! You're just a villain who only cares about himself and taking over the world—AH!" Raimundo winced as Chase stepped on his right hand.

He gripped the man's ankle but the foot wouldn't budge. He hissed as the man pushed more pressure onto Raimundo's fingers, causing the teen to let out a small yelp. If Chase pushed his foot down any harder, Raimundo was sure his fingers would break.

"It's a shame Omi is surrounded by people who just cannot seem to understand." Chase lamented.

"Oh? And I s-suppose you do?" Raimundo questioned sarcastically, despite wincing through the pain he was currently in.

"Of course, I'm the only one who possibly could ever understand the boy." Chase stated as he finally took his foot off Raimundo's hand.

Raimundo was about to make another snarky comment, but Chase's foot had now collided with Raimundo's nose. The boy flew backwards, more dirt and dust flew in the air. Raimundo could feel warm liquid stream down his lips, his nose now bloodied. His head hit the ground pretty hard too, he was confident there was going to be a huge lump that would form on the back of his head.

The Brazilian teenager was sure of it though. This wasn't just tiger instincts, somehow Chase could anticipate his every move. The man was good, but it literally felt he knew exactly what Raimundo was going to do before he did it, and even Chase Young wasn't that good. Predicting moves and knowing exactly what your opponent is going to do are two different things.

"Being the youngest and most gifted on a team is quite vexing when others refuse to see your talents. Especially if you're often overlooked in favor of others who didn't take any of their duties as seriously. I was able to break free from the shadows of those pathetic fools who held me back. I am merely going to help Omi do the same." Chase tilted his head upward to look more at the ceiling instead of Raimundo as he spoke.

Raimundo however seethed, as he forced himself off his back and to his knees, "Omi is nothing like you!"

"Deny all you like, but that will not change the truth. Nor will it change how Omi needs me. It is clear he can't go to any of you for his problems anymore." Chase shrugged.

Raimundo got to his feet and wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve.

"What are you talking about?" Raimundo asked suspiciously.

"Are you even aware that the boy has been plagued with nightmares as of recently?" Chase quirked a single eyebrow at him.

Raimundo froze where he stood, blinking constantly in the silence as he stared down at his fists.

"Omi's...been having nightmares?" Raimundo mumbled.

"Indeed, his nemesis noticed this. And yet Omi's own friends didn't seem to notice. I truly pity the young monk." Chase replied with slight disappointment.

"You...it's all your fault! We were all fine until you showed up! Until you wormed your way into Omi's good graces! How dare you manipulate his trust and use it like that!" Raimundo yelled.

He created a huge tornado around him, manipulating the air, shaping it into a large ball. He hurled his attack at Chase Young.

"Shoku Astro Wind!"

Chase simply held up his left hand, basically brought his hand down in a karate chop motion. A thin, white air current sliced through the teen's attack. Sending each half of the attack in opposite directions, crashing into the cave wall on each side. Raimundo's pupils dilated as his mouth hung open.

"H-How did you do that?" He questioned incredulously.

"Impressive new trick you learned to go with your new rank, I'm sure. However it's underdeveloped, lacking power to its punch. All one has to do is send their energy directly into the center and you can easily cut your attack in half, rendering it useless. And as for your question, you'd be surprised how many things you can master in the span of fifteen hundred years. But I'm afraid I must cut our time short, this is starting to get tiresome Raimundo." The Heylin warrior shook his head.

Chase moved faster than Raimundo could blink, kicking the boy in the chest, sending Raimundo rolling backwards and over the edge of the cliff. Raimundo managed to catch hold of the edge, clinging tightly to it as he wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

Raimundo howled in pain as he Chase Young pressed his foot onto the hand he stepped on previously. This time however, Chase applied much more pressure; Raimundo screamed as a very audible crunch could be heard coming from his ring, middle and index fingers. He couldn't pull away the broken fingers however as Chase kept his foot there. All Raimundo could do was moan at every aching and searing pain now in his body, most especially coming from the recent broken bones, as he hung there.

"Raimundo this is why you are hopeless, you just do not listen. All you'll ever be is a selfish, arrogant and slothful boy who cares nothing for direction and much prefers to be a nuisance. Had you heeded my words, perhaps you would have not lost this battle much like your temper." Chase sighed.

The Xiaolin leader hissed through his teeth, grimacing as his fingers started to feel slightly numb. That wasn't a good sign.

"What a shame, I almost pity you and your friends Raimundo. I'll soon take victory and your world as well. But most of all...I'll take your best friend too. Your precious reality is about to be reshaped, and life as you know it will dissolve into nothingness. However...chosen leader of the Xiaolin Dragons—do me at least one favor and survive long enough to see my victory. I need to see the expressions on the faces of you and the others once you realized you've utterly lost." The immortal chuckled.

Chase then kicked the ground so hard that it cracked and crumbled causing Raimundo to fall. Luckily the wind wielder used his element to help him bounce off walls and land safely on the ground far down below, despite his injuries. He hobbled over to where he noticed the Sword of the Storms. His head started to feel dizzy, as red and purple dots appeared in his vision. He kept blinking in hopes the spots would go away. But his knees felt weak as his vision went black, collapsing to the ground.

"O-Omi..." Raimundo mumbled before passing out.

* * *

The Heylin witch kept her distance, she didn't want to be discovered after all.

She has since an hour ago fled the crummy home of the Xiaolin and left the animal servants to have their fun at their temple. She rode on the back of one of Chase's tigers. At Chase's orders, it left her at the base of a mountain where she was to hide and wait. She only had to wait half an hour for those other two brats with the foolish dragon to show up. Originally she was planning on shadowing three annoying monks and their cowardly reptile, however Raimundo slipped past her, no doubt Chase discovered this and had dealt with it.

That was the interesting thing about her daughter's powers...she was capable of having multiple visions. After all, several different things could happen in the future. The future wasn't limited to one choice, because every thinking being was capable of more than one decision; so the future is always in motion. And as long as her little trouble-making daughter stayed in the Sphere of Yun, Chase would be able to utilize that ability and still counter even the unexpected choices of an irritating Dragon of Wind.

She sighed to herself, no need focusing on such infuriating memories of that traitor, Raimundo. And most especially memories of that maddening Dashi! Okay, so she was trapped in a puzzle box so it didn't feel like fifteen hundred years, but it had been a millennia and a few centuries now. And still everything that man did ticked her off. Always thwarting her plans, turning her own creation and child against her, corrupting Yun with good, and trapping Wuya in a dingy puzzle box for eons! And really, that man had the  _nerve_  to name his Sphere of Yun-Shen Gong Wu after her daughter!

 _"Just who does that sentimental, aggravating oaf think he is?!"_  Wuya mentally hissed.

She let out another sigh to calm herself as she kept focus on shadowing the girl, the cowboy and the dragon as they made their way deeper through the cave. They conveniently were making things easier by taking care of all these traps for her. After spending the last half hour waiting for these brats she was now forced to spend this next half hour stalking them.

But it didn't matter. For as long as she does her part and helps Chase succeed, she will have everything that belongs to her back...and so much more. She giggled impishly at the thought.

* * *

Omi was deep in meditation. The only sounds he heard was his own breathing. He was so calm and relaxed. However he felt something, like a small breeze that tickled his ear.

That was strange, if they were completely trapped and sealed off...unless they weren't!

The dots on his forehead flared; the boy understood what was going on. He snapped his eyes open, allowing his tiger instincts guide his actions.

"Bear Fighting Moose! Viper Striking Rat! Wolf Attacking Ox!"

Omi cried out the name of each fighting move, as he maneuvered his body. The child flipped around with different punch and kick combinations, going between each attack.

Fusa raised her brows as she observed Omi with muted confusion. However her eyes widened only slightly, a silent show of surprise. Two of the walls, the one behind and the one in front of them, shattered into little pieces like broken glass. The shattered pieces then vanished into thin air.

She seemed to regain her composure but still stared at the child with slight interest. Omi just grinned at the woman.

"Using my most superior tiger instincts, I could see that these walls were merely a trick! All just an illusion!" The Dragon of Water boasted.

"Impressive...I can see why your talents caught my master's eye." Fusa nodded.

Omi stopped his laughter as he just awkwardly smiled at the woman as they continued further down the dim tunnel. While on the one hand it was flattering and Omi loved the attention, on the other hand he didn't like being reminded he held Chase's attention. It was very contradicting, but Omi both relished in and felt uncomfortable from Chase's praise and attention. But then again, for Omi, there was a lot of things that concerned Chase Young that was very contradicting.

He shook the thoughts off though as the air got a bit chillier. It was then something didn't feel right. Omi couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt off. He rapidly rubbed both his arms, trying to smooth the goosebumps he felt on his skin, forming under his sleeve. Suddenly Omi realized it was starting to get darker. In fact the tunnels ahead were becoming pitch black.

He closed his eyes and focused intently, the dots on his forehead began to glow. But to Omi's shock, that didn't do much. It was still so dark that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face if he held it out.

"I have a  _most_  not so good feeling about this." The small monk mumbled.

Omi blinked and realized he couldn't see Fusa either.

"Miss Fusa? Fusa? Hello? Fusa? Where are you? Fusa?"

No matter how many times he called out to her, he couldn't hear any answer back. He could now feel goosebumps crawling up his neck. He shivered lightly as he crossed his arms and gave a soft swallow.

"Fusa, please say something! You are not injured, are you?" The boy cried out.

Omi then gasped as he thought he heard a swishing sound. He turned his body in every direction, although he still couldn't see. He could practically feel his heart pounding in his throat. He licked his lips as he tried to take slow deep breaths in hopes it would calm him down. That was when he heard a strange humming sound. It was soft, the boy could almost barely hear it. It then sounded like it was closer, the humming sound seemed to get raising in volume little by little bit. Even as he heard this humming sound all around him though, it was not loud, it still remained soft and low, almost like a whisper. It just went from a whispering hum that he could barely hear, to basically sounding like the whispering hum was right next to his ears.

"Hello? Fusa? Chase? Anyone?" Omi said barely above a whisper, dread increasing in his being with each passing second.

He then felt a small sting on top of his foot, like one of those fire ants that bit him when they visited Clay's ranch last summer.

"Hey, just who is—" Omi whipped his head around but then gasped.

Despite everything being pitch dark, he could now see all his friends. But they were old, really old, and dressed like they were prisoners. They looked so worn out and frail, and there was such sadness in their eyes.

"N-no...please not this..." Omi's whispered in a shaky tone.

"Omi, you have to get out of here! Hurry, there isn't much time!" The elder Raimundo cried out.

Omi just shook his head and bit his lip, legs began to tremble.

That was when a giant metal leg appeared and stomped over the elderly Clay. Over and over again. Omi gasped as he slammed both his hands over his mouth. Another metal leg then appeared and repeated the same action to the old Kimiko. Omi could feel his voice-box freeze, his pupils shrinking and his arms shaking along with his legs. The old Raimundo was trying to shout something but Omi couldn't hear, it was as if someone hit the mute button on a TV. Then the metal leg appeared over Raimundo, and violently stomped on him over and over again. Omi could feel his breath quickening to the point in between each inhale he was practically gasping for air. The child's body was now shaking from head to toe as he wanted to not look at the broken lifeless bodies, but for some reason he couldn't tear his eyes away.

He could feel tears falling from his eyes as the streamed down his cheeks. They wouldn't stop coming. But he did not scream, wail, or cough and choke on sobs. He just collapsed to his knees as he shook his head while the tears poured out.

"N-no...no...not again. P-Please not this again, I d-do not wish to see this again." Omi's voice trembled weakly.

He finally broke down, covering his eyes, but his crying was not loud...it was more quiet. Even if the volume of his crying was not loud, that did not reflect the pain that squeezed at his insides.

He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, like someone shaking him. He opened his eyes to see Raimundo. But Raimundo was not an old man, he was his usual younger self, a teasing smirk on his face. He looked around to see that he was in his bed at the temple.

"Yo, didn't expect Mr. No Slacking Off to actually be sleeping in. Geez little dude, stop looking at me so weird, are you still dreaming or something?" Raimundo joked.

"Was...was that all a dream?" Omi mumbled as he looked around the room.

"Earth to Omi! Come back to reality! We got chores to do!" Raimundo knocked on Omi's head as if he was a door.

"I—sorry...I am as you say—in with it." The boy gave a sheepish smile.

"Ugh, no Omi. While that phrase is a real one, that one doesn't work for this scenario! The phrase you are looking for is  _"out of it,"_  you got it?" Raimundo grumbled.

Omi smiled and nodded, feeling relieved he was freed from that nightmare.

Kimiko and Clay, with Dojo in tow, came into the room and they all engaged in small talk. The five left the room so the kids could go do their chores. That was until Kimiko bumped into a figure and would of fallen down if Raimundo didn't catch her by the shoulders. She eased herself to stand away from him and turned to glare at whoever bumped into her. The girl's anger diminished when she saw who it was. Omi on the other hand gasped.

"Chase Young?!"

No, this wasn't the Chase Young that Omi was familiar with. This one was...was a Xiaolin warrior and one of their teachers. A human man with kind eyes...not the immortal warlord that held evil in his eyes. Now Omi knew he remembered Chase was their enemy. He blinked up at him with much puzzlement dancing around his expression.

"I apologize Kimiko, are you alright?" Chase asked politely.

"Oh, no everything is fine Master Monk Chase. It was an accident after all, no big right?" Kimiko shrugged.

Chase gave a small smile and nodded at her. But then he tilted his head downward; Omi felt the man's eyes on him.

"Omi is everything alright? You look so concerned." Chase asked.

"Oh yes! I am very much top tip!" The littlest monk nodded.

"I think you mean tip top..." Raimundo sighed.

Chase chuckled lightly and pat Omi on the head before he turned to the whole group.

"If you all are not too busy, I'd like you to come see something in the practice hall. It seems Master Fung has a surprise for us." Chase motioned for them to follow.

After making a couple of turns in a few of the large hallways, they finally came to a large red door. Clay pushed it open, and inside was Master Fung and someone else.

"Hey, is that—?" Kimiko gasped.

"Well I'll be a goat's nanny!" Clay exclaimed.

"Jermaine!" Omi exclaimed.

The short boy dashed forward and tackled the New-Yorker to the ground. Both kids laughing as the older one tried to push the younger one off so he can stand up.

"Omi my man, it's good to see you." Jermaine said.

The boy initiated the high five and fist bump combo that Omi remembered the street kid taught him.

"Yes it is quite pleasant to see one such as me! But it is most good to be seeing you as well, Jermaine." Omi chuckled.

"You haven't changed a bit I see." Jermaine laughed.

Omi laughed with his friends as they all came to greet Jermaine and start cracking jokes. Omi looked around the room and couldn't believe his joy. If he was any happier he'd probably explode. They weren't blood, but this was the closest thing Omi had to a family. And looking at the faces of Master Fung, Dojo, Jermaine, Clay, Kimiko, Raimundo and Chase...Omi felt practically complete. He supposed this is what they meant when they say someone is at peace.  _This_ is how it is supposed to be.

The laughter ceased as the ground began to shake. A large crack ripped through the floor of the room, everyone jumped out of the way, hiding under tables as pieces of the ceiling started to fall. When the shaking finally ceased, Omi witnessed as a large version of Hannibal Roy Bean, with Wuya next to him, floating out of the crack in the ground. Both were laughing coldly at all present in the room. Omi then watched with horror as several swirling portals appeared behind everyone save for himself and Chase. Long arms of the Chi creatures dragged his loved ones into the Ying Yang World.

"No!" Omi screamed.

He then felt these rough gray vines wrap around his ankles, squeezing so hard Omi began to wince. More of them started to wrap around him, as he saw where the vines were coming from. Some black, misty portal. The bald child felt a cold chill run down his body. This was not a portal to the Ying Yang World, but he knew he certainly didn't want to be dragged in there.

"Omi!"

Chase dashed forward but was then blocked by Hannibal and Wuya. They cackled maliciously as the dark haired man glared at them with such anger in his eyes.

"Where have you sent everyone?! And just what are you planning to do with Omi?!" Chase practically growled.

"Relax Chase, we can reunite you with all your little Xiaolin friends." Hannibal said smoothly.

"We can even let the little half-pint go." Wuya giggled.

"What's the catch?" Chase narrowed his eyes at the two.

They both chuckled darkly with cold smiles on their faces. The vines continued to wrap more and more around him, Omi could not speak as a vine wrapped around his mouth. It held him high in the air, dragged him closer to that dark portal. But stopped as Wuya held her hand up, the smirk only grew wider on her face. She snapped her fingers and a familiar bowl of soup appeared, one that held the ancient potion of the dragons.

"Simple my old friend, if you want to save Omi, the dragon, the old man and the other children...all you have to do is drink that and become one of us." Hannibal chuckled with an ugly grin.

Omi felt his heart freeze. This was a nightmare. This wasn't reality, this was a nightmare! He had to be trapped in some sort of nightmare; one that wouldn't end!

 _"No, Chase! Please, I am certain we can figure something out!"_  Omi shouted in his thoughts.

Omi shut his eyes, he couldn't bare to watch this again. However he wouldn't have to, he frantically shook and tried to wiggle out but he could not break free. The vines were dragging him down into the portal, even after Chase drank that soup and became that monster. Omi felt himself tear up once more, he turned away, he couldn't bear to look back as he was dragged into the black portal.

He found himself once more trapped in nothing but pitch black. Tears pouring out of his eyes, as he shivered...it was so cold. He cried out the names of Master Fung, Dojo, Jermaine, Kimiko, Clay, Raimundo and Chase. But no one would answer. There was no one there. No one to hold or comfort him. No one to make jokes or laugh with him. No one to train or meditate with him. Nothing but the sound of his sobbing that echoed all around this darkness that surrounded him.

He was alone.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fyi, just going to randomly say-my friend dragonnutt has a really awesome XS fanfic you guys should check out, her story is completed. Just google "dragonnutt wu xing shield" and you'll find it. Trust me, if you haven't read it yet you are missing out!
> 
> Okay so with that recommendation-go read it, and leave her reviews too!!
> 
> ...anyways, onto some author's notes!
> 
> Fusa's whole "respect obedience" line, I was channeling some influence from Mako Mori. "It's not about obedience, it's about respect." I just always loved that line. Fun fact, Mako Mori was the partial inspiration for Fusa, at least in character design (well Japanese warrior gal with short straight hair, everything else I drew a lot of influences from other sources, but that little tidbit was Mako Mori imprinted.)
> 
> I always had these headcanons that not ALL of Chase's jungle cat servants were just fallen heroes who lost to him in battle. He's got a lot of them, so I kind of envisioned quite a few of them might of joined for different reasons or because of different circumstances. Chase's servants fascinate me. I wish we got to know a little more about them. So I will from time to time help you get to know some of his main ones, they will have names and stories to them. I mean I won't dive so deep that it takes over the plot, but small moments because I felt they were interesting and deserve some attention, even if it's little.
> 
> Chase Young you are a big fat bag of jerkface. Raimundo I'm sorry! Chase is a dick!
> 
> ...okay kidding aside...I know the battle was a bit one-sided, but that is to be expected. Not only is Raimundo letting his emotions get the better of him and he's losing his control...but yeah, Chase does have the advantage of borrowing powers from the seer girl who is trapped in a sphere. Though even if she wasn't, I think while it would of been a much less one-sided fight, and Raimundo would of definitely gotten more shots in, he would still probably lose. I mean Omi was the only of the four who beat Chase one-on-one, but that was because Chase LET him win! The only people who ever shown to be more evenly matched with Chase was Guan (who ended up beating him) and Hannibal. Even if you take into account Time After Time...first off, Hannibal and the others were a bit cocky, they seemed to underestimate the monks and Raimundo especially, that was their first major downfall. Second, when we see the end of that Showdown with everyone celebrating, you see a Dragon!Chase smiling at the monk's victory. Which means good!Chase was still in there deep down, he was happy for the monk's victory! But that got me thinking, Chase let Omi win before...so who is to say a recently changed Chase Young in Time After Time who was shown to be happy for the monks with his good self still showing that he's in there...who is to say that the little bit of good that was still in Chase, did intentionally hold back a little bit, to help the monks win so they can save the world? Well that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
> 
> I do adore Omi and Raimundo's friendship, but no one ever talks about Omi and Jermaine's friendship. Or Jermaine much for that matter. I love their friendship. I love Jermaine. I aggressively love both. ...so yeah
> 
> Lastly...Omi I am SOOO SORRY! You are supposed to be my favorite character, except I'm taking your worst memories and twisting them into these horrible things in these nightmares. I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! (Someone please go hug that precious cheeseball)
> 
> Yep like last chapter this one was a longer one than usual. The next one is going to be a longer one too. And hey, if I don't get a single anon going "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE?! YOU OWE US AN UPDATE!" then maybe there will be a reward for the chapter popping up sooner than you expect.
> 
> We'll see.
> 
> Also, special thanks to my beta editor and friend, tumblr user just-absolutely-super, for always being such a big help! And I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!  
> Til next time!


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